jnvD-j 

4.OF-CAITO^ 


;lt»-ANCfl£r> 
3     g-^>v      ^ 

^5583^(13^ 
l-ANttlO^ 

rOr-4 


^ 

"^A«iMNn.j\ft^ 


^HMIWW 


I* 


%TO-SOV^ 

^V\fUNlV£R% 
F*^ 

i 


^T-^^r    s        S^*^*     ^  ^ 

^TTinNv.^m^      -^ -^ 


;OF-CAllFOft^         <^Ytf 

I 


%^*^   ^$" 

v/ya3AIN(l-3Vkv 
:lOS-ANGEl£ry 


Si 


% 

I  i 
§  5. 


.^lOS-ANCfU 

S/Or^ 


"%133NV-SOV 


mo-jo>T 

;OF-CAIIFO^ 


II 

^    ^aojnw- 


4 

OFCAIIFOJ! 


/Or- 


I 


.  \V\MJNIVER%     ,^ios-, 

ti*<rs  l/r 


%*— ^*  g    ^<dT 
^3120NV-SOV^       %a3AINU3V^ 


I 
^^J>   id    I 

^AHvaan-^ 


mo-j 


F(%          ^E-UNIVn?^ 
•N.^.         <S-v          a>\ 


Sf— <JxS 

^HONV-SOl^ 


•3V^         ^OiJTVD-^      ^OJI1V3-JO; 


^OfCAllFO^          ^ 

t^JS\l  ll 


UFOftfc,       .^OKAllFOBfe 

^C\l   tlLZ^vl 


TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 


The  great  rock  stirred! 


WINDERMERE  EDITION 

Tanglewood 
Tales 

BY 

NATHANIEL  HAWTHORNE 


WITH  ILLUSTRATIONS 
BY  MILO  WINTER 


RAND   McNALLY  &   COMPANY 
CHICAGO  NEW  YORK 


Copyright,  1913, 
By  RAND,  MCNALLY  &  COMPANY 


ffitje 


UNN.  OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY.  LOS  ANGELES 


PS 


4 


THE  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The  Illustrations      ..........  5 

THE  WAYSIDE.  —  INTRODUCTORY  ......  7 

THE  MINOTAUR       ..........  15 

THE  PYGMIES      ...........  59 

THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH       ........  90 

CIRCE'S  PALACE       ..........  135 

THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS      .......  180 

THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE   .........  229 


THE  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  great  rock  stirred! Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

The  king,  hearing  the  hiss  of  the  serpents,  scrambled 

as  fast  as  he  could  to  the  window 31 

They  never  once  thought  whether  their  sails  were 

black,  white,  or  rainbow  colored 57 

They  were  constantly  at  war  with  the  cranes 67 

The  enemy's  breath  rushed  out  of  his  nose  in  an 

obstreperous  hurricane  and  whirlwind 85 

It  grieves  me  to  think  of  them,  still  keeping  up  that 

weary  pilgrimage 106 

The  brindled  cow  never  offered  to  lie  down 119 

"  Have  you  anything  to  tell  me,  little  bird?". 139 

It  looked  so  intolerably  absurd  to  see  hogs  on  cush- 
ioned thrones 1 60 

The  child  besought  them  to  go  with  her  a  little  way 

into  the  fields 181 

It  never  was  extinguished  by  the  rain  or  wind 199 

"  It  is  the  only  one  in  the  world,"  said  the  servant . .  222 
"  I  am  going  to  lolchos,"  answered  the  young  man. .  234 
Jason  was  delighted  with  the  oaken  image,  and 

gave  the  carver  no  rest  until  it  was  completed ...   248 
She  was  one  of  those  persons  whose  eyes  are  full  of 

mystery 265 

Jason  caught  the  fleece  from  the  tree 282 


TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 


THE    WAYSIDE. 

INTRODUCTORY. 

A  short  time  ago,  I  was  favored  with  a  flying  visit 
from  my  young  friend  Eustace  Bright,  whom  I  had  not 
before  met  with  since  quitting  the  breezy  mountains  of 
Berkshire.  It  being  the  winter  vacation  at  his  college, 
Eustace  was  allowing  himself  a  little  relaxation,  in  the 
hope,  he  told  me,  of  repairing  the  inroads  which  severe 
application  to  study  had  made  upon  his  health;  and  I 
was  happy  to  conclude,  from  the  excellent  physical  con- 
dition in  which  I  saw  him,  that  the  remedy  had  already 
been  attended  with  very  desirable  success.  He  had  now 
run  up  from  Boston  by  the  noon  train,  partly  impelled  by 
the  friendly  regard  with  which  he  is  pleased  to  honor  me, 
and  partly,  as  I  soon  found,  on  a  matter  of  literary 
business. 

It  delighted  me  to  receive  Mr.  Bright,  for  the  first 
time,  under  a  roof,  though  a  very  humble  one,  which  I 
could  really  call  my  own.  Nor  did  I  fail  (as  is  the  custom 
of  landed  proprietors  all  about  the  world)  to  parade  the 
poor  fellow  up  and  down  over  my  half  a  dozen  acres; 
secretly  rejoicing,  nevertheless,  that  the  disarray  of  the 
inclement  season,  and  particularly  the  six  inches  of  snow 
then  upon  the  ground,  prevented  him  from  observing  the 
ragged  neglect  of  soil  and  shrubbery  into  which  the  place 
had  lapsed.  It  was  idle,  however,  to  imagine  that  an 


8  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

airy  guest  from  Monument  Mountain,  Bald  Summit,  and 
old  Graylock,  shaggy  with  primeval  forests,  could  see 
anything  to  admire  in  my  poor  little  hillside,  with  its 
growth  of  frail  and  insect -eaten  locust  trees.  Eustace 
very  frankly  called  the  view  from  my  hill  top  tame ;  and 
so,  no  doubt,  it  was,  after  rough,  broken,  rugged,  head- 
long Berkshire,  and  especially  the  northern  parts  of  the 
county,  with  which  his  college  residence  had  made  him 
familiar.  But  to  me  there  is  a  peculiar,  quiet  charm  in 
these  broad  meadows  and  gentle  eminences.  They  are 
better  than  mountains,  because  they  do  not  stamp  and 
stereotype  themselves  into  the  brain,  and  thus  grow 
wearisome  with  the  same  strong  impression,  repeated  day 
after  day.  A  few  summer  weeks  among  mountains,  a 
lifetime  among  green  meadows  and  placid  slopes,  with 
outlines  forever  new,  because  continually  fading  out  of 
the  memory — such  would  be  my  sober  choice. 

I  doubt  whether  Eustace  did  not  internally  pronounce 
the  whole  thing  a  bore,  until  I  led  him  to  my  predecessor's 
little  ruined,  rustic  summer  house,  midway  on  the  hill- 
side. It  is  a  mere  skeleton  of  slender,  decaying  tree 
trunks,  with  neither  walls  nor  a  roof;  nothing  but  a 
tracery  of  branches  and  twigs,  which  the  next  wintry 
blast  will  be  very  likely  to  scatter  in  fragments  along  the 
terrace.  It  looks,  and  is,  as  evanescent  as  a  dream;  and 
yet,  in  its  rustic  network  of  boughs,  it  has  somehow 
enclosed  a  hint  of  spiritual  beauty,  and  has  become  a  true 
emblem  of  the  subtile  and  ethereal  mind  that  planned  it. 
I  made  Eustace  Bright  sit  down  on  a  snow  bank,  which 
had  heaped  itself  over  the  mossy  seat,  and  gazing  through 
the  arched  windows  opposite,  he  acknowledged  that  the 
scene  at  once  grew  picturesque. 

"Simple  as  it  looks,"  said  he,  "this  little  edifice  seems 
to  be  the  work  of  magic.  It  is  full  of  suggest! veness,  and, 
in  its  way,  is  as  good  as  a  cathedral.  Ah,  it  would  be 


THE  WAYSIDE.  9 

just  the  spot  for  one  to  sit  in,  of  a  summer  afternoon,  and 
tell  the  children  some  more  of  those  wild  stories  from  the 
classic  myths!" 

"It  would,  indeed,"  answered  I.  "The  summer  house 
itself,  so  airy  and  so  broken,  is  like  one  of  those  old  tales, 
imperfectly  remembered ;  and  these  living  branches  of  the 
Baldwin  apple  tree,  thrusting  so  rudely  in,  are  like  your 
unwarrantable  interpolations.  But,  by  the  by,  have  you 
added  any  more  legends  to  the  series,  since  the  publica- 
tion of  the  'Wonder-Book'?" 

"Many  more,"  said  Eustace;  "Primrose,  Periwinkle, 
and  the  rest  of  them,  allow  me  no  comfort  of  my  life, 
unless  I  tell  them  a  story  every  day  or  two.  I  have  run 
away  from  home  partly  to  escape  the  importunity  of 
these  little  wretches !  But  I  have  written  out  six  of  the 
new  stories,  and  have  brought  them  for  you  to  look  over." 

"Are  they  as  good  as  the  first?"  I  inquired. 

"Better  chosen,  and  better  handled,"  replied  Eustace 
Bright.  "You  will  say  so  when  you  read  them." 

"Possibly  not,"  I  remarked.  "I  know  from  my  own 
experience,  that  an  author's  last  work  is  always  his  best 
one,  in  his  own  estimate,  until  it  quite  loses  the  red  heat 
of  composition.  After  that,  it  falls  into  its  true  place, 
quietly  enough.  But  let  us  adjourn  to  my  study,  and 
examine  these  new  stories.  It  would  hardly  be  doing 
yourself  justice,  were  you  to  bring  me  acquainted  with 
them,  sitting  here  on  this  snow  bank!" 

So  we  descended  the  hill  to  my  small,  old  cottage,  and 
shut  ourselves  up  in  the  south-eastern  room,  where  the 
sunshine  comes  in,  warmly  and  brightly,  through  the 
better  half  of  a  winter's  day.  Eustace  put  his  bundle  of 
manuscript  into  my  hands;  and  I  skimmed  through  it 
pretty  rapidly,  trying  to  find  out  its  merits  and  demerits 
by  the  touch  of  my  fingers,  as  a  veteran  story-teller 
ought  to  know  how  to  do. 


io  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

It  will  be  remembered  that  Mr.  Bright  condescended 
to  avail  himself  of  my  literary  experience  by  constituting 
me  editor  of  the  "Wonder-Book."  As  he  had  no  reason 
to  complain  of  the  reception  of  that  erudite  work  by  the 
public,  he  was  now  disposed  to  retain  me  in  a  similar  posi- 
tion with  respect  to  the  present  volume,  which  he  entitled 
"TANGLEWOOD  TALES."  Not,  as  Eustace  hinted,  that 
there  was  any  real  necessity  for  my  services  as  introducer, 
inasmuch  as  his  own  name  had  become  established  in 
some  good  degree  of  favor  with  the  literary  world.  But 
the  connection  with  myself,  he  was  kind  enough  to  say, 
had  been  highly  agreeable;  nor  was  he  by  any  means 
desirous,  as  most  people  are,  of  kicking  away  the  ladder 
that  had  perhaps  helped  him  to  reach  his  present  eleva- 
tion. My  young  friend  was  willing,  in  short,  that  the 
fresh  verdure  of  his  growing  reputation  should  spread 
over  my  straggling  and  half -naked  boughs ;  even  as  I  have 
sometimes  thought  of  training  a  vine,  with  its  broad 
leanness,  and  purple  fruitage,  over  the  worm-eaten  posts 
and  rafters  of  the  rustic  summer  house.  I  was  not  insen- 
sible to  the  advantages  of  his  proposal,  and  gladly 
assured  him  of  my  acceptance. 

Merely  from  the  title  of  the  stories  I  saw  at  once  that 
the  subjects  were  not  less  rich  than  those  of  the  former 
volume;  nor  did  I  at  all  doubt  that  Mr.  Bright's  audacity 
(so  far  as  that  endowment  might  avail)  had  enabled  him 
to  take  full  advantage  of  whatever  capabilities  they 
offered.  Yet,  in  spite  of  my  experience  of  his  free  way  of 
handling  them,  I  did  not  quite  see,  I  confess,  how  he 
could  have  obviated  all  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  ren- 
dering them  presentable  to  children.  These  old  legends, 
so  brimming  over  with  everything  that  is  most  abhorrent 
to  our  Christianized  moral  sense — some  of  them  so 
hideous,  others  so  melancholy  and  miserable,  amid  which 
the  Greek  tragedians  sought  their  themes,  and  moulded 


THE  WAYSIDE.  n 

them  into  the  sternest  forms  of  grief  that  ever  the  world 
saw;  was  such  material  the  stuff  that  children's  play- 
things should  be  made  of !  How  were  they  to  be  purified  ? 
How  was  the  blessed  sunshine  to  be  thrown  into  them? 

But  Eustace  told  me  that  these  myths  were  the  most 
singular  things  in  the  world,  and  that  he  was  invariably 
astonished,  whenever  he  began  to  relate  one,  by  the  readi- 
ness with  which  it  adapted  itself  to  the  childish  purity  of 
his  auditors.  The  objectionable  characteristics  seem  to 
be  a  parasitical  growth,  having  no  essential  connection 
with  the  original  fable.  They  fall  away,  and  are  thought 
of  no  more,  the  instant  he  puts  his  imagination  in  sym- 
pathy with  the  innocent  little  circle,  whose  wide-open 
eyes  are  fixed  so  eagerly  upon  him.  Thus  the  stories 
(not  by  any  strained  effort  of  the  narrator's,  but  in  har- 
mony with  their  inherent  germ)  transform  themselves, 
and  re-assume  the  shapes  which  they  might  be  supposed 
to  possess  in  the  pure  childhood  of  the  world.  When  the 
first  poet  or  romancer  told  these  marvellous  legends  (such 
is  Eustace  Bright's  opinion),  it  was  still  the  Golden  Age. 
Evil  had  never  yet  existed;  and  sorrow,  misfortune, 
crime,  were  mere  shadows  which  the  mind  fancifully 
created  for  itself,  as  a  shelter  against  too  sunny  realities ; 
or,  at  most,  but  prophetic  dreams  to  which  the  dreamer 
himself  did  not  yield  a  waking  credence.  Children  are 
now  the  only  representatives  of  the  men  and  women  of 
that  happy  era ;  and  therefore  it  is  that  we  must  raise  the 
intellect  and  fancy  to  the  level  of  childhood,  in  order  to 
re-create  the  original  myths. 

I  let  the  youthful  author  talk  as  much  and  as  extrava- 
gantly as  he  pleased,  and  was  glad  to  see  him  commencing 
life  with  such  confidence  in  himself  and  his  performances. 
A  few  years  will  do  all  that  is  necessary  towards  showing 
him  the  truth  in  both  respects.  Meanwhile,  it  is  but 
right  to  say,  he  does  really  appear  to  have  overcome  the 


12  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

moral  objections  against  these  fables,  although  at  the 
expense  of  such  liberties  with  their  structure  as  must  be 
left  to  plead  their  own  excuse,  without  any  help  from  me. 
Indeed,  except  that  there  was  a  necessity  for  it — and  that 
the  inner  life  of  the  legends  cannot  be  come  at  save  by 
making  them  entirely  one's  own  property — there  is  no 
defense  to  be  made. 

Eustace  informed  me  that  he  had  told  his  stories  to  the 
children  in  various  situations — in  the  woods,  on  the  shore 
of  the  lake,  in  the  dell  of  Shadow  Brook,  in  the  play- 
room, at  Tanglewood  fireside,  and  in  a  magnificent  palace 
of  snow,  with  ice  windows,  which  he  helped  his  little 
friends  to  build.  His  auditors  were  even  more  delighted 
with  the  contents  of  the  present  volume  than  with  the 
specimens  which  have  already  been  given  to  the  world. 
The  classically  learned  Mr.  Pringle,  too,  had  listened  to 
two  or  three  of  the  tales,  and  censured  them  even  more 
bitterly  than  he  did  THE  THREE  GOLDEN  APPLES;  so 
that,  what  with  praise,  and  what  with  criticism,  Eustace 
Bright  thinks  that  there  is  good  hope  of  at  least  as  much 
success  with  the  public  as  in  the  case  of  the  "Wonder- 
Book." 

I  made  all  sorts  of  inquiries  about  the  children,  not 
doubting  that  there  would  be  great  eagerness  to  hear  of 
their  welfare,  among  some  good  little  folks  who  have 
written  to  me,  to  ask  for  another  volume  of  myths.  They 
are  all,  I  am  happy  to  say  (unless  we  except  Clover),  in 
excellent  health  and  spirits.  Primrose  is  now  almost  a 
young  lady,  and,  Eustace  tells  me,  is  just  as  saucy  as 
ever.  She  pretends  to  consider  herself  quite  beyond  the 
age  to  be  interested  by  such  idle  stories  as  these;  but,  for 
all  that,  whenever  a  story  is  to  be  told,  Primrose  never 
fails  to  be  one  of  the  listeners,  and  to  make  fun  of  it  when 
finished.  Periwinkle  is  very  much  grown,  and  is  ex- 
pected to  shut  up  her  baby  house  and  throw  away  her 


THE  WAYSIDE.  13 

doll  in  a  month  or  two  more.  Sweet  Fern  has  learned  to 
read  and  write,  and  has  put  on  a  jacket  and  pair  of  panta- 
loons— all  of  which  improvements  I  am  sorry  for. 
Squash  Blossom,  Blue  Eye,  Plantain,  and  Buttercup 
have  had  the  scarlet  fever,  but  came  easily  through  it. 
Huckleberry,  Milkweed,  and  Dandelion  were  attacked 
with  the  whooping  cough,  but  bore  it  bravely,  and  kept 
out  of  doors  whenever  the  sun  shone .  Cowslip ,  during  the 
autumn,  had  either  the  measles,  or  some  eruption  that 
looked  very  much  like  it,  but  was  hardly  sick  a  day. 
Poor  Clover  has  been  a  good  deal  troubled  with  her 
second  teeth,  which  have  made  her  meagre  in  aspect  and 
rather  fractious  in  temper;  nor,  even  when  she  smiles,  is 
the  matter  much  mended,  since  it  discloses  a  gap  just 
within  her  lips,  almost  as  wide  as  the  barn  door.  But  all 
this  will  pass  over,  and  it  is  predicted  that  she  will  turn 
out  a  very  pretty  girl. 

As  for  Mr.  Bright  himself,  he  is  now  in  his  senior  year  at 
Williams  College,  and  has  a  prospect  of  graduating  with 
some  degree  of  honorable  distinction  at  the  next  com- 
mencement. In  his  oration  for  the  bachelor's  degree,  he 
gives  me  to  understand,  he  will  treat  of  the  classical 
myths,  viewed  in  the  aspect  of  baby  stories,  and  has  a 
great  mind  to  discuss  the  expediency  of  using  up  the 
whole  of  ancient  history,  for  the  same  purpose.  I  do  not 
know  what  he  means  to  do  with  himself  after  leaving 
college,  but  trust  that,  by  dabbling  so  early  with  the  dan- 
gerous and  seductive  business  of  authorship,  he  will  not 
be  tempted  to  become  an  author  by  profession.  If  so, 
I  shall  be  very  sorry  for  the  little  that  I  have  had  to  do 
with  the  matter,  in  encouraging  these  first  beginnings. 

I  wish  there  were  any  likelihood  of  my  soon  seeing 
Primrose,  Periwinkle,  Dandelion,  Sweet  Fern,  Clover, 
Plantain,  Huckleberry,  Milkweed,  Cowslip,  Buttercup, 
Blue  Eye,  and  Squash  Blossom  again.  But  as  I  do  not 


i4  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

know  when  I  shall  re-visit  Tanglewood,  and  as  Eustace 
Bright  probably  will  not  ask  me  to  edit  a  third  "Wonder- 
Book,"  the  public  of  little  folks  must  not  expect  to 
hear  any  more  about  those  dear  children  from  me. 
Heaven  bless  them,  and  everybody  else,  whether  grown 
people  or  children! 


THE  MINOTAUR. 

In  the  old  city  of  Troezene,  at  the  foot  of  a 
lofty  mountain,  there  lived,  a  very  long  time 
ago,  a  little  boy  named  Theseus.  His  grand- 
father, King  Pittheus,  was  the  sovereign  of 
that  country,  and  was  reckoned  a  very  wise 
man;  so  that  Theseus,  being  brought  up  in 
the  royal  palace,  and  being  naturally  a  bright 
lad,  could  hardly  fail  of  profiting  by  the  old 
king's  instructions.  His  mother's  name  was 
JEihia.  As  for  his  father,  the  boy  had  never 
seen  him.  But,  from  his  earliest  remembrance, 
^Ethra  used  to  go  with  little  Theseus  into  a 
wood,  and  sit  down  upon  a  moss-grown  rock, 
which  was  deeply  sunken  into  the  earth.  Here 
she  often  talked  with  her  son  about  his  father, 
and  said  that  he  was  called  ^geus,  and  that 
he  was  a  great  king,  and  ruled  over  Attica, 
and  dwelt  at  Athens,  which  was  as  famous  a 
city  as  any  in  the  world.  Theseus  was  very 
fond  of  hearing  about  King  ^Egeus,  and  often 
asked  his  good  mother  JSthra  why  he  did  not 
come  and  live  with  them  at  Troezene. 

"Ah,  my  dear  son,"  answered  ^Ethra,  with 

2  15 


1 6  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

a  sigh,  "  a  monarch  has  his  people  to  take  care 
of.  The  men  and  women  over  whom  he  rules 
are  in  the  place  of  children  to  him;  and  he 
can  seldom  spare  time  to  love  his  own  children 
as  other  parents  do.  Your  father  will  never  be 
able  to  leave  his  kingdom  for  the  sake  of  seeing 
his  little  boy." 

"Well,  but,  dear  mother,"  asked  the  boy, 
"  why  cannot  I  go  to  this  famous  city  of  Athens, 
and  tell  King  vEgeus  that  I  am  his  son?" 

"That  may  happen  by  and  by,"  said  ^Ethra. 
"Be  patient,  and  we  shall  see.  You  are  not 
yet  big  and  strong  enough  to  set  out  on  such  an 
errand." 

"And  how  soon  shall  I  be  strong  enough?" 
Theseus  persisted  in  inquiring. 

"You  are  but  a  tiny  boy  as  yet,"  replied  his 
mother.  "  See  if  you  can  lift  this  rock  on  which 
we  are  sitting?" 

The  little  fellow  had  a  great  opinion  of  his 
own  strength.  So,  grasping  the  rough  pro- 
tuberances of  the  rock,  he  tugged  and  toiled 
amain,  and  got  himself  quite  out  of  breath, 
without  being  able  to  stir  the  heavy  stone. 
It  seemed  to  be  rooted  into  the  ground.  No 
wonder  he  could  not  move  it;  for  it  would 
have  taken  all  the  force  of  a  very  strong  man 
to  lift  it  out  of  its  earthy  bed. 

His  mother  stood  looking  on,  with  a  sad  kind 
of  a  smile  on  her  lips  and  in  her  eyes,  to  see 


THE  MINOTAUR.  17 

the  zealous  and  yet  puny  efforts  of  her  little 
boy.  She  could  not  help  being  sorrowful  at 
finding  him  already  so  impatient  to  begin  his 
adventures  in  the  world. 

"You  see  how  it  is,  my  dear  Theseus,"  said 
she.  "  You  must  possess  far  more  strength  than 
now  before  I  can  trust  you  to  go  to  Athens,  and 
tell  King  ^Egeus  that  you  are  his  son.  But 
when  you  can  lift  this  rock,  and  show  me  what 
is  hidden  beneath  it,  I  promise  you  my  per- 
mission to  depart." 

Often  and  often,  after  this,  did  Theseus  ask 
his  mother  whether  it  was  yet  time  for  him  to 
go  to  Athens;  and  still  his  mother  pointed  to 
the  rock,  and  told  him  that,  for  years  to  come, 
he  could  not  be  strong  enough  to  move  it.  And 
again  and  again  the  rosy-cheeked  and  curly- 
headed  boy  would  tug  and  strain  at  the  huge 
mass  of  stone,  striving,  child  as  he  was,  to  do 
what  a  giant  could  hardly  have  done  without 
taking  both  of  his  great  hands  to  the  task. 
Meanwhile  the  rock  seemed  to  be  sinking  farther 
and  farther  into  the  ground.  The  moss  grew 
over  it  thicker  and  thicker,  until  at  last  it  looked 
almost  like  a  soft  green  seat,  with  only  a  few 
gray  knobs  of  granite  peeping  out.  The  over- 
hanging trees,  also,  shed  their  brown  leaves  upon 
it,  as  often  as  the  autumn  came ;  and  at  its  base 
grew  ferns  and  wild  flowers,  some  of  which  crept 
quite  over  its  surface.  To  all  appearance,  the 


i8  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

rock  was  as  firmly  fastened  as  any  other  portion 
of  the  earth's  substance. 

But,  difficult  as  the  matter  looked,  Theseus 
was  now  growing  up  to  be  such  a  vigorous 
youth,  that,  in  his  own  opinion,  the  time 
would  quickly  come  when  he  might  hope  to 
get  the  upper  hand  of  this  ponderous  lump 
of  stone. 

"Mother,  I  do  believe  it  has  started!"  cried 
he,  after  one  of  his  attempts.  "The  earth 
around  it  is  certainly  a  little  cracked! " 

"  No,  no,  child!"  his  mother  hastily  answered. 
"  It  is  not  possible  you  can  have  moved  it,  such 
a  boy  as  you  still  are ! " 

Nor  would  she  be  convinced,  although  Theseus 
showed  her  the  place  where  he  fancied  that  the 
stem  of  a  flower  had  been  partly  uprooted  by  the 
movement  of  the  rock.  But  ^Ethra  sighed,  and 
looked  disquieted;  for,  no  doubt,  she  began  to 
be  conscious  that  her  son  was  no  longer  a  child, 
and  that,  in  a  little  while  hence,  she  must  send 
him  forth  among  the  perils  and  troubles  of  the 
world. 

It  was  not  more  than  a  year  afterwards  when 
they  were  again  sitting  on  the  moss-covered 
stone.  JEthra,  had  once  more  told  him  the  oft- 
repeated  story  of  his  father,  and  how  gladly  he 
would  receive  Theseus  at  his  stately  palace,  and 
how  he  would  present  him  to  his  courtiers  and 
the  people,  and  tell  them  that  here  was  the  heir 


THE  MINOTAUR.  19 

of  his  dominions.  The  eyes  of  Theseus  glowed 
with  enthusiasm,  and  he  would  hardly  sit  still 
to  hear  his  mother  speak. 

"Dear  mother  JEthra"  he  exclaimed,  "I 
never  felt  half  so  strong  as  now!  I  am  no 
longer  a  child,  nor  a  boy,  nor  a  mere  youth! 
I  feel  myself  a  man!  It  is  now  time  to  make 
one  earnest  trial  to  remove  the  stone." 

"  Ah,  my  dearest  Theseus,"  replied  his  mother, 
"not  yet!  not  yet!" 

"Yes,  mother,"  said  he,  resolutely,  "the  time 
has  come!" 

Then  Theseus  bent  himself  in  good  earnest  to 
the  task,  and  strained  every  sinew,  with  manly 
strength  and  resolution.  He  put  his  whole 
brave  heart  into  the  effort.  He  wrestled  with 
the  big  and  sluggish  stone,  as  if  it  had  been  a 
living  enemy.  He  heaved,  he  lifted,  he  resolved 
now  to  succeed,  or  else  to  perish  there,  and  let  the 
rock  be  his  monument  forever!  ^2thra  stood 
gazing  at  him,  and  clasped  her  hands,  partly 
with  a  mother's  pride,  and  partly  with  a  mother's 
sorrow.  The  great  rock  stirred!  Yes,  it  was 
raised  slowly  from  the  bedded  moss  and  earth, 
uprooting  the  shrubs  and  flowers  along  with  it, 
and  was  turned  upon  its  side.  Theseus  had 
conquered! 

While  taking  breath,  he  looked  joyfully  at  his 
mother,  and  she  smiled  upon  him  through  her 
tears. 


20  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"Yes,  Theseus,"  she  said,  "the  time  has 
come,  and  you  must  stay  no  longer  at  my  side ! 
See  what  King  ^Egeus,  your  royal  father,  left 
for  you  beneath  the  stone,  when  he  lifted  it  in 
his  mighty  arms,  and  laid  it  on  the  spot  whence 
you  have  now  removed  it." 

Theseus  looked,  and  saw  that  the  rock  had 
been  placed  over  another  slab  of  stone,  contain- 
ing a  cavity  within  it;  so  that  it  somewhat 
resembled  a  roughly-made  chest  or  coffer,  of 
which  the  upper  mass  had  served  as  the  lid. 
Within  the  cavity  lay  a  sword,  with  a  golden  hilt, 
and  a  pair  of  sandals. 

"That  was  your  father's  sword,"  said  ^Ethra, 
"and  those  were  his  sandals.  When  he  went 
to  be  king  of  Athens,  he  bade  me  treat  you  as  a 
child  until  you  should  prove  yourself  a  man  by 
lifting  this  heavy  stone.  That  task  being 
accomplished,  you  are  to  put  on  his  sandals,  in 
order  to  follow  in  your  father's  footsteps,  and 
to  gird  on  his  sword,  so  that  you  may  fight 
giants  and  dragons,  as  King  ^Egeus  did  in  his 
youth." 

"I  will  set  out  for  Athens  this  very  day!" 
cried  Theseus. 

But  his  mother  persuaded  him  to  stay  a  day 
or  two  longer,  while  she  got  ready  some  neces- 
sary articles  for  his  journey.  When  his  grand- 
father, the  wise  King  Pittheus,  heard  that 
Theseus  intended  to  present  himself  at  his 


THE  MINOTAUR.  21 

father's  palace,  he  earnestly  advised  him  to  get 
on  board  of  a  vessel,  and  go  by  sea ;  because  he 
might  thus  arrive  within  fifteen  miles  of  Athens, 
without  either  fatigue  or  danger. 

"  The  roads  are  very  bad  by  land,"  quoth  the 
venerable  king;  "and  they  are  terribly  infested 
with  robbers  and  monsters.  A  mere  lad,  like 
Theseus,  is  not  fit  to  be  trusted  on  such  a  perilous 
journey,  all  by  himself.  No,  no;  let  him  go 
by  sea!" 

But  when  Theseus  heard  of  robbers  and 
monsters,  he  pricked  up  his  ears,  and  was  so 
much  the  more  eager  to  take  the  road  along 
which  they  were  to  be  met  with.  On  the  third 
day,  therefore,  he  bade  a  respectful  farewell  to 
his  grandfather,  thanking  him  for  all  his  kind- 
ness; and,  after  affectionately  embracing  his 
mother,  he  set  forth  with  a  good  many  of  her 
tears  glistening  on  his  cheeks,  and  some,  if  the 
truth  must  be  told,  that  had  gushed  out  of  his 
own  eyes.  But  he  let  the  sun  and  wind  dry 
them,  and  walked  stoutly  on,  playing  with  the 
golden  hilt  of  his  sword,  and  taking  very  manly 
strides  in  his  father's  sandals. 

I  cannot  stop  to  tell  you  hardly  any  of  the 
adventures  that  befell  Theseus  on  the  road  to 
Athens.  It  is  enough  to  say,  that  he  quite 
cleared  that  part  of  the  country  of  the  robbers 
about  whom  King  Pittheus  had  been  so  much 
alarmed.  One  of  these  bad  people  was  named 


22  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Procrustes ;  and  he  was  indeed  a  terrible  fellow, 
and  had  an  ugly  way  of  making  fun  of  the  poor 
travelers  who  happened  to  fall  into  his  clutches. 
In  his  cavern  he  had  a  bed,  on  which,  with 
great  pretense  of  hospitality,  he  invited  his 
guests  to  lie  down ;  but,  if  they  happened  to  be 
shorter  than  the  bed,  this  wicked  villain  stretched 
them  out  by  main  force;  or,  if  they  were  too 
tall,  he  lopped  off  their  heads  or  feet,  and 
laughed  at  what  he  had  done,  as  an  excellent 
joke.  Thus,  however  weary  a  man  might  be,  he 
never  liked  to  lie  in  the  bed  of  Procrustes. 
Another  of  these  robbers,  named  Scinis,  must 
likewise  have  been  a  very  great  scoundrel.  He 
was  in  the  habit  of  flinging  his  victims  off  a  high 
cliff  into  the  sea;  and,  in  order  to  give  him 
exactly  his  deserts,  Theseus  tossed  him  off  the 
very  same  place.  But  if  you  will  believe  me, 
the  sea  would  not  pollute  itself  by  receiving  such 
a  bad  person  into  its  bosom;  neither  would  the 
earth,  having  once  got  rid  of  him,  consent  to 
take  him  back;  so  that,  beween  the  cliff  and 
the  sea,  Scinis  stuck  fast  in  the  air,  which  was 
forced  to  bear  the  burden  of  his  naughtiness. 

After  these  memorable  deeds,  Theseus  heard  of 
an  enormous  sow,  which  ran  wild,  and  was  the 
terror  of  all  the  farmers  round  about;  and,  as  he 
did  not  consider  himself  above  doing  any  good 
thing  that  came  in  his  way,  he  killed  this 
monstrous  creature,  and  gave  the  carcass  to  the 


THE  MINOTAUR.  23 

poor  people  for  bacon.  The  great  sow  had  been 
an  awful  beast,  while  ramping  about  the  woods 
and  fields,  but  was  a  pleasant  object  enough 
when  cut  up  into  joints,  and  smoking  on  I  know 
not  how  many  dinner  tables. 

Thus,  by  the  time  he  reached  his  journey's 
end,  Theseus  had  done  many  valiant  feats  with 
his  father's  golden-hilted  sword,  and  had  gained 
the  renown  of  being  one  of  the  bravest  young- 
men  of  the  day.  His  fame  traveled  faster  than 
he  did,  and  reached  Athens  before  him.  As  he 
entered  the  city,  he  heard  the  inhabitants  talk- 
ing at  the  street  corners,  and  saying  that 
Hercules  was  brave,  and  Jason  too,  and  Castor 
and  Pollux  likewise,  but  that  Theseus,  the  son 
of  their  own  king,  would  turn  out  as  great  a 
hero  as  the  best  of  them.  Theseus  took  longer 
strides  on  hearing  this,  and  fancied  himself  sure 
of  a  magnificent  reception  at  his  father's  court, 
since  he  came  thither  with  Fame  to  blow  her 
trumpet  before  him,  and  cry  to  King  ^Egeus, 
"  Behold  your  son! " 

He  little  suspected,  innocent  youth  that  he 
was,  that  here,  in  this  very  Athens,  where  his 
father  reigned,  a  greater  danger  awaited  him 
than  any  which  he  had  encountered  on  the  road. 
Yet  this  was  the  truth.  You  must  understand 
that  the  father  of  Theseus,  though  not  very 
old  in  years,  was  almost  worn  out  with  the  cares 
of  government,  and  had  thus  grown  aged  before 


24  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

his  time.  His  nephews,  not  expecting  him  to 
live  a  very  great  while,  intended  to  get  all  the 
power  of  the  kingdom  into  their  own  hands. 
But  when  they  heard  that  Theseus  had  arrived  in 
Athens,  and  learned  what  a  gallant  young  man 
he  was,  they  saw  that  he  would  not  be  at  all 
the  kind  of  a  person  to  let  them  steal  away  his 
father's  crown  and  scepter,  which  ought  to  be 
his  own  by  right  of  inheritance.  Thus  these 
bad-hearted  nephews  of  King  ^geus,  who  were 
the  own  cousins  of  Theseus,  at  once  became  his 
enemies.  A  still  more  dangerous  enemy  was 
Medea,  the  wicked  enchantress;  for  she  was 
now  the  king's  wife,  and  wanted  to  give  the 
kingdom  to  her  son  Medus,  instead  of  letting  it 
be  given  to  the  son  of  ^thra,  whom  she  hated. 
It  so  happened  that  the  king's  nephews  met 
Theseus,  and  found  out  who  he  was,  just  as  he 
reached  the  entrance  of  the  royal  palace.  With 
all  their  evil  designs  against  him,  they  pretended 
to  be  their  cousin's  best  friends,  and  expressed 
great  joy  at  making  his  acquaintance.  They 
proposed  to  him  that  he  should  come  into  the 
king's  presence  as  a  stranger,  in  order  to  try 
whether  ^geus  would  discover  in  the  young 
man's  features  any  likeness  either  to  himself  or 
his  mother  ^Ethra,  and  thus  recognize  him  for  a 
son.  Theseus  consented;  for  he  fancied  that 
his  father  would  know  him  in  a  moment,  by 
the  love  that  was  in  his  heart.  But,  while  he 


THE  MINOTAUR.  25 

waited  at  the  door,  the  nephews  ran  and  told 
King  ^geus  that  a  young  man  had  arrived  in 
Athens,  who,  to  their  certain  knowledge, 
intended  to  put  him  to  death,  and  get  possession 
of  his  royal  crown. 

"And  he  is  now  waiting  for  admission  to 
your  majesty's  presence,"  added  they. 

"Aha!"  cried  the  old  king,  on  hearing  this. 
"Why,  he  must  be  a  very  wicked  young  fellow 
indeed!  Pray,  what  would  you  advise  me  to 
do  with  him?" 

In  reply  to  this  question,  the  wicked  Medea 
put  in  her  word.  As  I  have  already  told  you, 
she  was  a  famous  enchantress.  According  to 
some  stories,  she  was  in  the  habit  of  boiling  old 
people  in  a  large  caldron,  under  pretense  of 
making  them  young  again;  but  King  ^Egeus,  I 
suppose,  did  not  fancy  such  an  uncomfortable 
way  of  growing  young,  or  perhaps  was  contented 
to  be  old,  and  therefore  would  never  let  himself 
be  popped  into  the  caldron.  If  there  were 
time  to  spare  from  more  important  matters,  I 
should  be  glad  to  tell  you  of  Medea's  fiery 
chariot,  drawn  by  winged  dragons,  in  which  the 
enchantress  used  often  to  take  an  airing  among 
the  clouds.  This  chariot,  in  fact,  was  the 
vehicle  that  first  brought  her  to  Athens,  where 
she  had  done  nothing  but  mischief  ever  since 
her  arrival.  But  these  and  many  other  wonders 
must  be  left  untold;  and  it  is  enough  to  say, 


26  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

that  Medea,  amongst  a  thousand  other  bad 
things,  knew  how  to  prepare  a  poison,  that  was 
instantly  fatal  to  whomsoever  might  so  much  as 
touch  it  with  his  lips. 

So,  when  the  king  asked  what  he  should  do 
with  Theseus,  this  naughty  woman  had  an 
answer  ready  at  her  tongue's  end. 

"  Leave  that  to  me,  please  your  majesty,"  she 
replied.  "Only  admit  this  evil-minded  young 
man  to  your  presence,  treat  him  civilly,  and 
invite  him  to  drink  a  goblet  of  wine.  Your 
majesty  is  well  aware  that  I  sometimes  amuse 
myself  by  distilling  very  powerful  medicines. 
Here  is  one  of  them  in  this  small  phial.  As  to 
what  it  is  made  of,  that  is  one  of  my  secrets  of 
state.  Do  but  let  me  put  a  single  drop  into 
the  goblet,  and  let  the  young  man  taste  it; 
and  I  will  answer  for  it,  he  shall  quite 
lay  aside  the  bad  designs  with  which  he  comes 
hither." 

As  she  said  this,  Medea  smiled;  but,  for  all 
her  smiling  face,  she  meant  nothing  less  than  to 
poison  the  poor  innocent  Theseus,  before  his 
father's  eyes.  And  King  ^Egeus,  like  most  other 
kings,  thought  any  punishment  mild  enough  for 
a  person  who  was  accused  of  plotting  against  his 
life.  He  therefore  made  little  or  no  objection 
to  Medea's  scheme,  and  as  soon  as  the  poisonous 
wine  was  ready,  gave  orders  that  the  young 
stranger  should  be  admitted  into  his  presence. 


THE  MINOTAUR.  27 

The  goblet  was  set  on  a  table  beside  the  king's 
throne;  and  a  fly,  meaning  just  to  sip  a  little 
from  the  brim,  immediately  tumbled  into  it, 
dead.  Observing  this,  Medea  looked  round  at 
the  nephews,  and  smiled  again. 

When  Theseus  was  ushered  into  the  royal 
apartment,  the  only  object  that  he  seemed  to 
behold  was  the  white-bearded  old  king.  There 
he  sat  on  his  magnificent  throne,  a  dazzling 
crown  on  his  head,  and  a  scepter  in  his  hand. 
His  aspect  was  stately  and  majestic,  although 
his  years  and  infirmities  weighed  heavily  upon 
him,  as  if  each  year  were  a  lump  of  lead,  and 
each  infirmity  a  ponderous  stone,  and  all  were 
bundled  up  together,  and  laid  upon  his  weary 
shoulders.  The  tears  both  of  joy  and  sorrow 
sprang  into  the  young  man's  eyes;  for  he 
thought  how  sad  it  was  to  see  his  dear  father 
so  infirm,  and  how  sweet  it  would  be  to  support 
him  with  his  own  youthful  strength,  and  to  cheer 
him  up  with  the  alacrity  of  his  loving  spirit. 
When  a  son  takes  a  father  into  his  warm  heart, 
it  renews  the  old  man's  youth  in  a  better  way 
than  by  the  heat  of  Medea's  magic  caldron. 
And  this  was  what  Theseus  resolved  to  do. 
He  could  scarcely  wait  to  see  whether  King 
^Egeus  would  recognize  him,  so  eager  was  he  to 
throw  himself  into  his  arms. 

Advancing  to  the  foot  of  the  throne,  he  at- 
tempted to  make  a  little  speech,  which  he  had 


28  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

been  thinking  about,  as  he  came  up  the  stairs. 
But  he  was  almost  choked  by  a  great  many 
tender  feelings  that  gushed  out  of  his  heart  and 
swelled  into  his  throat,  all  struggling  to  find 
utterance  together.  And  therefore,  unless  he 
could  have  laid  his  full,  over-brimming  heart 
into  the  king's  hand,  poor  Theseus  knew  not 
what  to  do  or  say.  The  cunning  Medea  observed 
what  was  passing  in  the  young  man's  mind. 
She  was  more  wicked  at  that  moment  than 
ever  she  had  been  before;  for  (and  it  makes 
me  tremble  to  tell  you  of  it)  she  did  her  worst 
to  turn  all  this  unspeakable  love  with  which 
Theseus  was  agitated  to  his  own  ruin  and 
destruction. 

"Does  your  majesty  see  his  confusion?"  she 
whispered  in  the  king's  ear.  "He  is  so  con- 
scious of  guilt,  that  he  trembles  and  cannot 
speak.  The  wretch  lives  too  long!  Quick! 
offer  him  the  wine! " 

Now  King  ^Egeus  had  been  gazing  earnestly 
at  the  young  stranger,  as  he  drew  near  the  throne. 
There  was  something,  he  knew  not  what,  either 
in  his  white  brow,  or  in  the  fine  expression 
of  his  mouth,  or  in  his  beautiful  and  tender  eyes, 
that  made  him  indistinctly  feel  as  if  he  had  seen 
this  youth  before;  as  if,  indeed,  he  had  trotted 
him  on  his  knee  when  a  baby,  and  had  beheld 
him  growing  to  be  a  stalwart  man,  while  he 
himself  grew  old.  But  Medea  guessed  how 


THE  MINOTAUR.  29 

the  king  felt,  and  would  not  suffer  him  to  yield 
to  these  natural  sensibilities;  although  they 
were  the  voice  of  his  deepest  heart,  telling  him, 
as  plainly  as  it  could  speak,  that  here  was  our 
dear  son,  and  ^Ethra's  son,  coming  to  claim 
him  for  a  father.  The  enchantress  again  whis- 
pered in  the  king's  ear,  and  compelled  him,  by 
her  witchcraft,  to  see  everything  under  a  false 
aspect. 

He  made  up  his  mind,  therefore,  to  let  Theseus 
drink  off  the  poisoned  wine. 

"Young  man,"  said  he,  "you  are  welcome! 
I  am  proud  to  show  hospitality  to  so  heroic  a 
youth.  Do  me  the  favor  to  drink  the  con- 
tents of  this  goblet.  It  is  brimming  over,  as  you 
see,  with  delicious  wine,  such  as  I  bestow  only 
on  those  who  are  worthy  of  it!  None  is  more 
worthy  to  quaff  it  than  yourself! " 

So  saying,  King  ^geus  took  the  golden  goblet 
from  the  table,  and  was  about  to  offer  it  to 
Theseus.  But,  partly  through  his  infirmities, 
and  partly  because  it  seemed  so  sad  a  thing  to 
take  away  this  young  man's  life,  however  wicked 
he  might  be,  and  partly,  no  doubt,  because  his 
heart  was  wiser  than  his  head,  and  quaked 
within  him  at  the  thought  of  what  he  was  going 
to  do — for  all  these  reasons,  the  king's  hand 
trembled  so  much  that  a  great  deal  of  the  wine 
slopped  over.  In  order  to  strengthen  his  pur- 
pose, and  fearing  lest  the  whole  of  the  precious 


3o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

poison  should  be  wasted,  one  of  his  nephews 
now  whispered  to  him: 

"Has  your  Majesty  any  doubt  of  this  stranger's 
guilt?  This  is  the  very  sword  with  which  he 
meant  to  slay  you.  How  sharp,  and  bright, 
and  terrible  it  is!  Quick! — let  him  taste  the 
wine;  or  perhaps  he  may  do  the  deed  even  yet." 

At  these  words,  ^Egeus  drove  every  thought 
.and  feeling  out  of  his  breast,  except  the  one 
idea  of  how  justly  the  young  man  deserved  to  be 
put  to  death.  He  sat  erect  on  his  throne,  and 
held  out  the  goblet  of  wine  with  a  steady  hand, 
.and  bent  on  Theseus  a  frown  of  kingly  severity ; 
for,  after  all,  he  had  too  noble  a  spirit  to  murder 
-even  a  treacherous  enemy  with  a  deceitful 
;smile  upon  his  face. 

"Drink!"  said  he,  in  the  stern  tone  with 
which  he  was  wont  to  condemn  a  criminal  to 
be  beheaded.  "  You  have  well  deserved  of  me 
;such  wine  as  this!" 

Theseus  held  out  his  hand  to  take  the  wine. 
But,  before  he  touched  it,  King  ^Egeus  trembled 
,again.  His  eyes  had  fallen  on  the  gold-hilted 
>sword  that  hung  at  the  young  man's  side.  He 
•drew  back  the  goblet. 

"That  sword!"  he  exclaimed:  "how  came 
you  by  it?" 

"  It  was  my  father's  sword,"  replied  Theseus, 
with  a  tremulous  voice.  "These  were  his 
sandals.  My  dear  mother  (her  name  is  ^Ethra) 


The  king,  hearing  the  hiss  of  the  serpents,  scrambled  as  fast  as 
could  to  the  window 


THE  MINOTAUR.  31 

told  me  his  story  while  I  was  yet  a  little  child. 
But  it  is  only  a  month  since  I  grew  strong 
enough  to  lift  the  heavy  stone,  and  take  the 
sword  and  sandals  from  beneath  it,  and  come 
to  Athens  to  seek  my  father." 

"My  son!  my  son!"  cried  King  ^Egeus, 
flinging  away  the  fatal  goblet,  and  tottering 
down  from  the  throne  to  fall  into  the  arms  of 
Theseus.  "Yes,  these  are  JSthra's  eyes.  It  is 
my  son." 

I  have  quite  forgotten  what  became  of  the 
king's  nephews.  But  when  the  wicked  Medea 
saw  this  new  turn  of  affairs,  she  hurried  out  of 
the  room,  and  going  to  her  private  chamber, 
lost  no  time  to  setting  her  enchantments  to 
work.  In  a  few  moments,  she  heard  a  great 
noise  of  hissing  snakes  outside  of  the  chamber 
window;  and  behold!  there  was  her  fiery 
chariot,  and  four  huge  winged  serpents,  wrig- 
gling and  twisting  in  the  air,  flourishing  their 
tails  higher  than  the  top  of  the  palace,  and  all 
ready  to  set  off  on  an  aerial  journey.  Medea 
staid  only  long  enough  to  take  her  son  with 
her,  and  to  steal  the  crown  jewels,  together  with 
the  king's  best  robes,  and  whatever  other 
valuable  things  she  could  lay  hands  on;  and 
getting  into  the  chariot,  she  whipped  up  the 
snakes,  and  ascended  high  over  the  city. 

The  king,  hearing  the  hiss  of  the  serpents, 
scrambled  as  fast  as  he  could  to  the  window, 


32  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

and  bawled  out  to  the  abominable  enchantress 
never  to  come  back.  The  whole  people  of 
Athens,  too,  who  had  run  out  of  doors  to  see 
this  wonderful  spectacle,  set  up  a  shout  of  joy 
at  the  prospect  of  getting  rid  of  her.  Medea, 
almost  bursting  with  rage,  uttered  precisely  such 
a  hiss  as  one  of  her  own  snakes,  only  ten  times 
more  venomous  and  spiteful ;  and  glaring  fiercely 
out  of  the  blaze  of  the  chariot,  she  shook  her 
hands  over  the  multitude  below,  as  if  she  were 
scattering  a  million  of  curses  among  them. 
In  so  doing,  however,  she  unintentionally  let 
fall  about  five  hundred  diamonds  of  the  first 
water,  together  with  a  thousand  great  pearls, 
and  two  thousand  emeralds,  rubies,  sapphires, 
opals,  and  topazes,  to  which  she  had  helped 
herself  out  of  the  king's  strong  box.  All  these 
came  pelting  down,  like  a  shower  of  many- 
colored  hailstones,  upon  the  heads  of  grown 
people  and  children,  who  forthwith  gathered 
them  up,  and  carried  them  back  to  the  palace. 
But  King  ^Egeus  told  them  that  they  were 
welcome  to  the  whole,  and  to  twice  as  many 
more,  if  he  had  them,  for  the  sake  of  his  delight 
at  finding  his  son,  and  losing  the  wicked  Medea. 
And,  indeed,  if  you  had  seen  how  hateful 
was  her  last  look,  as  the  flaming  chariot  flew 
upward,  you  would  not  have  wondered  that 
both  king  and  people  should  think  her  departure 
a  good  riddance. 


THE  MINOTAUR.  33 

And  now  Prince  Theseus  was  taken  into  great 
favor  by  his  royal  father.  The  old  king  was 
never  weary  of  having  him  sit  beside  him  on 
his  throne  (which  was  quite  wide  enough  for 
two),  and  of  hearing  him  tell  about  his  dear 
mother,  and  his  childhood,  and  his  many  boyish 
efforts  to  lift  the  ponderous  stone.  Theseus, 
however,  was  much  too  brave  and  active  a 
young  man  to  be  willing  to  spend  all  his  time  in 
relating  things  which  had  already  happened. 
His  ambition  was  to  perform  other  and  more 
heroic  deeds,  which  should  be  better  worth 
telling  in  prose  and  verse.  Nor  had  he  been 
long  in  Athens  before  he  caught  and  chained  a 
terrible  mad  bull,  and  made  a  public  show  of 
him,  greatly  to  the  wonder  and  admiration  of 
good  King  ^Egeus  and  his  subjects.  But  pretty 
soon,  he  undertook  an  affair  that  made  all  his 
foregone  adventures  seem  like  mere  boy's  play. 
The  occasion  of  it  was  as  follows: 

One  morning,  when  Prince  Theseus  awoke, 
he  fancied  that  he  must  have  had  a  very  sorrow- 
ful dream,  and  that  it  was  still  running  in  his 
mind,  even  now  that  his  eyes  were  opened. 
For  it  appeared  as  if  the  air  was  full  of  a  melan- 
choly wail;  and  when  he  listened  more  atten- 
tively, he  could  hear  sobs,  and  groans,  and 
screams  of  woe,  mingled  with  deep,  quiet  sighs, 
which  came  from  the  king's  palace,  and  from 
the  streets,  and  from  the  temples,  and  from 


34  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

every  habitation  in  the  city.  And  all  these 
mournful  noises,  issuing  out  of  thousands  of 
separate  hearts,  united  themselves  into  one 
great  sound  of  affliction,  which  had  startled 
Theseus  from  slumber.  He  put  on  his  clothes  as 
quickly  as  he  could  (not  forgetting  his  sandals 
and  gold-hilted  sword),  and,  hastening  to  the 
king,  inquired  what  it  all  meant. 

"Alas!  my  son,"  quoth  King  ^Egeus,  heav- 
ing a  long  sigh,  "here  is  a  very  lamentable 
matter  in  hand!  This  is  the  wofulest  anni- 
versary in  the  whole  year.  It  is  the  day  when 
we  annually  draw  lots  to  see  which  of  the 
youths  and  maids  of  Athens  shall  go  to  be 
devoured  by  the  horrible  Minotaur!" 

"The  Minotaur!"  exclaimed  Prince  Theseus; 
and  like  a  brave  young  prince  as  he  was,  he 
put  his  hand  to  the  hilt  of  his  sword.  "What 
kind  of  a  monster  may  that  be?  Is  it  not 
possible,  at  the  risk  of  one's  life,  to  slay  him?" 

But  King  ^Egeus  shook  his  venerable  head, 
and  to  convince  Theseus  that  it  was  quite  a 
hopeless  case,  he  gave  him  an  explanation  of 
the  whole  affair.  It  seems  that  in  the  island  of 
Crete  there  lived  a  certain  dreadful  monster, 
called  a  Minotaur,  which  was  shaped  partly  like 
a  man  and  partly  like  a  bull,  and  was  altogether 
such  a  hideous  sort  of  a  creature  that  it  is  really 
disagreeable  to  think  of  him.  If  he  were  suf- 
fered to  exist  at  all,  it  should  have  been  on 


THE  MINOTAUR.  35 

some  desert  island,  or  in  the  duskiness  of  some 
deep  cavern,  where  nobody  would  ever  be 
tormented  by  his  abominable  aspect.  But  King 
Minos,  who  reigned  over  Crete,  laid  out  a  vast 
deal  of  money  in  building  a  habitation  for  the 
Minotaur,  and  took  great  care  of  his  health 
and  comfort,  merely  for  mischief's  sake.  A  few 
years  before  this  time,  there  had  been  a  war 
between  the  city  of  Athens  and  the  island  of 
Crete,  in  which  the  Athenians  were  beaten, 
and  compelled  to  beg  for  peace.  No  peace  could 
they  obtain,  however,  except  on  condition  that 
they  should  send  seven  young  men  and  seven 
maidens,  every  year,  to  be  devoured  by  the  pet 
monster  of  the  cruel  King  Minos.  For  three 
years  past,  this  grievous  calamity  had  been 
borne.  And  the  sobs,  and  groans,  and  shrieks, 
with  which  the  city  was  now  filled,  were  caused 
by  the  people's  woe,  because  the  fatal  day  had 
come  again,  when  the  fourteen  victims  were  to 
be  chosen  by  lot ;  and  the  old  people  feared  lest 
their  sons  or  daughters  might  be  taken,  and  the 
youths  and  damsels  dreaded  lest  they  themselves 
might  be  destined  to  glut  the  ravenous  maw  of 
that  detestable  man-brute. 

But  when  Theseus  heard  the  story,  he  straight- 
ened himself  up,  so  that  he  seemed  taller  than 
ever  before ;  and  as  for  his  face  it  was  indignant, 
despiteful,  bold,  tender,  and  compassionate,  all 
in  one  look. 


36  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"Let  the  people  of  Athens  this  year  draw 
lots  for  only  six  young  men,  instead  of  seven," 
said  he,  "I  will  myself  be  the  seventh;  and 
let  the  Minotaur  devour  me  if  he  can!" 

"O  my  dear  son,"  cried  King  ^Egeus,  "why 
should  you  expose  yourself  to  this  horrible  fate  ? 
You  are  a  royal  prince,  and  have  a  right  to 
hold  yourself  above  the  destinies  of  common 
men." 

"It  is  because  I  am  a  prince,  your  son,  and 
the  rightful  heir  of  your  kingdom,  that  I  freely 
take  upon  me  the  calamity  of  your  subjects," 
answered  Theseus,  "And  you,  my  father, 
being  king  over  these  people,  and  answerable  to 
Heaven  for  their  welfare,  are  bound  to  sacrifice 
what  is  dearest  to  you,  rather  than  that  the  son 
or  daughter  of  the  poorest  citizen  should  come 
to  any  harm." 

The  old  king  shed  tears,  and  besought  Theseus 
not  to  leave  him  desolate  in  his  old  age,  more 
especially  as  he  had  but  just  begun  to  know 
the  happiness  of  possessing  a  good  and  valiant 
son.  Theseus,  however,  felt  that  he  was  in  the 
right,  and  therefore  would  not  give  up  his  resolu- 
tion. But  he  assured  his  father  that  he  did 
not  intend  to  be  eaten  up,  unresistingly,  like  a 
sheep,  and  that,  if  the  Minotaur  devoured  him, 
it  should  not  be  without  a  battle  for  his  dinner. 
And  finally,  since  he  could  not  help  it,  King 
s  consented  to  let  him  go.  So  a  vessel  was 


THE  MINOTAUR.  3 7 

got  ready,  and  rigged  with  black  sails;  and 
Theseus,  with  six  other  young  men,  and  seven 
tender  and  beautiful  damsels,  came  down  to  the 
harbor  to  embark.  A  sorrowful  multitude  ac- 
companied them  to  the  shore.  There  was  the 
poor  old  king,  too,  leaning  on  his  son's  arm,  and 
looking  as  if  his  single  heart  held  all  the  grief  of 
Athens. 

Just  as  Prince  Theseus  was  going  on  board, 
his  father  bethought  himself  of  one  last  word 
to  say. 

"My  beloved  son,"  said  he,  grasping  the 
Prince's  hand,  "you  observe  that  the  sails  of 
this  vessel  are  black;  as  indeed  they  ought  to 
be,  since  it  goes  upon  a  voyage  of  sorrow  and 
despair.  Now,  being  weighed  down  with  in- 
firmities, I  know  not  whether  I  can  survive  till 
the  vessel  shall  return.  But,  as  long  as  I  do 
live,  I  shall  creep  daily  to  the  top  of  yonder 
cliff,  to  watch  if  there  be  a  sail  upon  the  sea. 
And,  dearest  Theseus,  if  by  some  happy  chance, 
you  should  escape  the  jaws  of  the  Minotaur, 
then  tear  down  those  dismal  sails,  and  hoist 
others  that  shall  be  bright  as  the  sunshine. 
Beholding  them  on  the  horizon,  myself  and  all 
the  people  will  know  that  you  are  coming  back 
victorious,  and  will  welcome  you  with  such  a 
festal  uproar  as  Athens  never  heard  before." 

Theseus  promised  that  he  would  do  so.  Then 
going  on  board,  the  mariners  trimmed  the 


38  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

vessel's  black  sails  to  the  wind,  which  blew 
faintly  off  the  shore,  being  pretty  much  made  up 
of  the  sighs  that  everybody  kept  pouring  forth 
on  this  melancholy  occasion.  But  by  and  by, 
when  they  had  got  fairly  out  to  sea,  there  came 
a  stiff  breeze  from  the  north-west,  and  drove 
them  along  as  merrily  over  the  white-capped 
waves  as  if  they  had  been  going  on  the  most 
delightful  errand  imaginable.  And  though  it 
was  a  sad  business  enough,  I  rather  question 
whether  fourteen  young  people,  without  any  old 
persons  to  keep  them  in  order,  could  continue 
to  spend  the  whole  time  of  the  voyage  in  being 
miserable.  There  had  been  some  few  dances 
upon  the  undulating  deck,  I  suspect,  and  some 
hearty  bursts  of  laughter,  and  other  such  un- 
seasonable merriment  among  the  victims,  before 
the  high  blue  mountains  of  Crete  began  to 
show  themselves  among  the  far-off  clouds. 
That  sight,  to  be  sure,  made  them  all  very  grave 
again. 

Theseus  stood  among  the  sailors,  gazing 
eagerly  towards  the  land;  although,  as  yet,  it 
seemed  hardly  more  substantial  than  the  clouds, 
amidst  which  the  mountains  were  looming  up. 
Once  or  twice,  he  fancied  that  he  saw  a  glare 
of  some  bright  object,  a  long  way  off,  flinging  a 
gleam  across  the  waves. 

"  Did  you  see  that  flash  of  light?"  he  inquired 
of  the  master  of  the  vessel. 


THE  MINOTAUR.  39 

"No,  prince;  but  I  have  seen  it  before," 
answered  the  master.  "  It  came  from  Talus,  I 
suppose." 

As  the  breeze  came  fresher  just  then,  the 
master  was  busy  with  trimming  his  sails,  and 
had  no  more  time  to  answer  questions.  But 
while  the  vessel  flew  faster  and  faster  towards 
Crete,  Theseus  was  astonished  to  behold  a 
human  figure,  gigantic  in  size,  which  appeared 
to  be  striding,  with  a  measured  movement, 
along  the  margin  of  the  island.  It  stepped  from 
cliff  to  cliff,  and  sometimes  from  one  headland 
to  another,  while  the  sea  foamed  and  thundered 
on  the  shore  beneath,  and  dashed  its  jets  of 
spray  over  the  giant's  feet.  What  was  still 
more  remarkable,  whenever  the  sun  shone  on 
this  huge  figure,  it  flickered  and  glimmered; 
its  vast  countenance,  too,  had  a  metallic  lustre, 
and  threw  great  flashes  of  splendor  through 
the  air.  The  folds  of  its  garments,  moreover, 
instead  of  waving  in  the  wind,  fell  heavily 
over  its  limbs,  as  if  woven  of  some  kind  of 
metal. 

The  nigher  the  vessel  came,  the  more  Theseus 
wondered  what  this  immense  giant  could  be, 
and  whether  it  actually  had  life  or  no.  For, 
though  it  walked,  and  made  other  lifelike 
motions,  there  yet  was  a  kind  of  jerk  in  its 
gait,  which,  together  with  its  brazen  aspect, 
caused  the  young  prince  to  suspect  that  it  was 


40  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

no  true  giant,  but  only  a  wonderful  piece  of 
machinery.  The  figure  looked  all  the  more 
terrible  because  it  carried  an  enormous  brass 
club  on  its  shoulder. 

"What  is  this  wonder?"  Theseus  asked  of 
the  master  of  the  vessel,  who  was  now  at  leisure 
to  answer  him. 

"It  is  Talus,  the  Man  of  Brass,"  said  the 
master. 

"And  is  he  a  live  giant,  or  a  brazen  image?" 
asked  Theseus. 

"That,  truly,"  replied  the  master,  "is  the 
point  which  has  always  perplexed  me.  Some 
say,  indeed,  that  this  Talus  was  hammered  out 
for  King  Minos  by  Vulcan  himself,  the  skilfullest 
of  all  workers  in  metal.  But  who  ever  saw  a 
brazen  image  that  had  sense  enough  to  walk 
round  an  island  three  times  a  day,  as  this  giant 
walks  round  the  island  of  Crete,  challenging 
every  vessel  that  cames  nigh  the  shore?  And, 
on  the  other  hand,  what  living  thing,  unless  his 
sinews  were  made  of  brass,  would  not  be  weary 
of  marching  eighteen  hundred  miles  in  the 
twenty-four  hours,  as  Talus  does,  without  ever 
sitting  down  to  rest?  He  is  a  puzzler,  take 
him  how  you  will." 

Still  the  vessel  went  bounding  onward;  and 
now  Theseus  could  hear  the  brazen  clangor 
of  the  giant's  footsteps,  as  he  trod  heavily 
upon  the  sea-beaten  rocks,  some  of  which  were 


THE  MINOTAUR.  41 

seen  to  crack  and  crumble  into  the  foaming 
waves  beneath  his  weight.  As  they  approached 
the  entrance  of  the  port,  the  giant  straddled 
clear  across  it,  with  a  foot  firmly  planted  on 
each  headland,  and  uplifting  his  club  to  such 
a  height  that  its  butt-end  was  hidden  in  the 
cloud,  he  stood  in  that  formidable  posture, 
with  the  sun  gleaming  all  over  his  metallic  sur- 
face. There  seemed  nothing  else  to  be  expected 
but  that,  the  next  moment,  he  would  fetch  his 
great  club  down,  slam  bang,  and  smash  the 
vessel  into  a  thousand  pieces,  without  heeding 
how  many  innocent  people  he  might  destroy; 
for  there  is  seldom  any  mercy  in  a  giant,  you 
know,  and  quite  as  little  in  a  piece  of  brass 
clockwork.  But  just  when  Theseus  and  his 
companions  thought  the  blow  was  coming,  the 
brazen  lips  unclosed  themselves,  and  the  figure 
spoke. 

"Whence  come  you,  strangers?" 

And  when  the  ringing  voice  ceased,  there 
was  just  such  a  reverberation  as  you  may  have 
heard  within  a  great  church  bell,  for  a  moment 
or  two  after  the  stroke  of  the  hammer. 

"  From  Athens! "  shouted  the  master  in  reply. 

"On  what  errand?"  thundered  the  Man  of 
Brass. 

And  he  whirled  his  club  aloft  more  threaten- 
ingly than  ever,  as  if  he  were  about  to  smite 
them  with  a  thunderstroke  right  amidships, 


42  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

because  Athens,  so  little  while  ago,  had  been 
at  war  with  Crete. 

"We  bring  the  seven  youths  and  the  seven 
maidens,"  answered  the  master,  "to  be  de- 
voured by  the  Minotaur!" 

"Pass!"  cried  the  brazen  giant. 

That  one  loud  word  rolled  all  about  the  sky, 
while  again  there  was  a  booming  reverberation 
within  the  figure's  breast.  The  vessel  glided 
between  the  headlands  of  the  port,  and  the 
giant  resumed  his  march.  In  a  few  moments, 
this  wondrous  sentinel  was  far  away,  flashing 
in  the  distant  sunshine,  and  revolving  with 
immense  strides  round  the  island  of  Crete,  as 
it  was  his  never-ceasing  task  to  do. 

No  sooner  had  they  entered  the  harbor  than 
a  party  of  the  guards  of  King  Minos  came  down 
to  the  water  side,  and  took  charge  of  the  four- 
teen young  men  and  damsels.  Surrounded  by 
these  armed  warriors,  Prince  Theseus  and  his 
companions  were  led  to  the  king's  palace,  and 
ushered  into  his  presence.  Now,  Minos  was  a 
stern  and  pitiless  king.  If  the  figure  that 
guarded  Crete  was  made  of  brass,  then  the 
monarch,  who  ruled  over  it,  might  be  thought 
to  have  a  still  harder  metal  in  his  breast,  and 
might  have  been  called  a  man  of  iron.  He  bent 
his  shaggy  brows  upon  the  poor  Athenian 
victims.  Any  other  mortal,  beholding  their 
fresh  and  tender  beauty,  and  their  innocent 


THE  MINOTAUR.  43 

looks,  would  have  felt  himself  sitting  on  thorns 
until  he  had  made  every  soul  of  them  happy 
by  bidding  them  go  free  as  the  summer  wind. 
But  this  immitigable  Minos  cared  only  to 
examine  whether  they  were  plump  enough  to 
satisfy  the  Minotaur's  appetite.  For  my  part, 
I  wish  he  himself  had  been  the  only  victim; 
and  the  monster  would  have  found  him  a  pretty 
tough  one. 

One  after  another,  King  Minos  called  these 
pale,  frightened  youths  and  sobbing  maidens 
to  his  footstool,  gave  them  each  a  poke  in  the 
ribs  with  his  sceptre  (to  try  whether  they  were 
in  good  flesh  or  no),  and  dismissed  them  with  a 
nod  to  his  guards.  But  when  his  eyes  rested 
on  Theseus,  the  king  looked  at  him  more  atten- 
tively, because  his  face  was  calm  and  brave. 

"Young  man,"  asked  he,  with  his  stern 
voice,  "are  you  not  appalled  at  the  certainty 
of  being  devoured  by  this  terrible  Minotaur?" 

"I  have  offered  my  life  in  a  good  cause," 
answered  Theseus,  "and  therefore  I  give  it 
freely  and  gladly.  But  thou,  King  Minos,  art 
thou  not  thyself  appalled,  who,  year  after  year, 
hast  perpetrated  this  dreadful  wrong,  by  giving 
seven  innocent  youths  and  as  many  maidens 
to  be  devoured  by  a  monster?  Dost  thou  not 
tremble,  wicked  king,  to  turn  thine  eyes  inward 
•on  thine  own  heart?  Sitting  there  on  thy 
golden  throne,  and  in  thy  robes  of  majesty, 


44  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

I  tell  thee  to  thy  face,  King  Minos,  thou  art  a 
more  hideous  monster  than  the  Minotaur  him- 
self!" 

"Aha!  do  you  think  me  so?"  cried  the 
king,  laughing  in  his  cruel  way.  "To-morrow, 
at  breakfast  time,  you  shall  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  judging  which  is  the  greater  monster, 
the  Minotaur  or  the  king!  Take  them  away, 
guards;  and  let  this  free-spoken  youth  be  the 
Minotaur's  first  morsel." 

Near  the  king's  throne  (though  I  had  no  time 
to  tell  you  so  before)  stood  his  daughter  Ariadne. 
She  was  a  beautiful  and  tender-hearted  maiden, 
and  looked  at  these  poor  doomed  captives  with 
very  different  feelings  from  those  of  the  iron- 
breasted  King  Minos.  She  really  wept  indeed, 
at  the  idea  of  how  much  human  happiness 
would  be  needlessly  thrown  away,  by  giving 
so  many  young  people,  in  the  first  bloom  and 
rose  blossom  of  their  lives,  to  be  eaten  up  by  a 
creature  who,  no  doubt,  would  have  preferred  a 
fat  ox,  or  even  a  large  pig,  to  the  plumpest  of 
them.  And  when  she  beheld  the  brave,  spirited 
figure  of  Prince  Theseus  bearing  himself  so 
calmly  in  his  terrible  peril,  she  grew  a  hundred 
times  more  pitiful  than  before.  As  the  guards 
were  taking  him  away,  she  flung  herself  at  the 
king's  feet,  and  besought  him  to  set  all  the  cap- 
tives free,  and  especially  this  one  young  man. 

"Peace,  foolish  girl!"  answered  King  Minos. 


THE  MINOTAUR.  45 

"What  hast  thou  to  do  with  an  affair  like  this? 
It  is  a  matter  of  state  policy,  and  therefore 
quite  beyond  thy  weak  comprehension.  Go 
water  thy  flowers,  and  think  no  more  of  these 
Athenian  caitiffs,  whom  the  Minotaur  shall  as 
certainly  eat  up  for  breakfast  as  I  will  eat  a 
partridge  for  my  supper." 

So  saying,  the  king  looked  cruel  enough  to 
devour  Theseus  and  all  the  rest  of  the  captives, 
himself,  had  there  been  no  Minotaur  to  save 
him  the  trouble.  As  he  would  hear  not  another 
word  in  their  favor,  the  prisoners  were  now 
led  away,  and  clapped  into  a  dungeon,  where 
the  jailer  advised  them  to  go  to  sleep  as  soon  as 
possible,  because  the  Minotaur  was  in  the  habit 
of  calling  for  breakfast  early.  The  seven  maidens 
and  six  of  the  young  men  soon  sobbed  them- 
selves to  slumber.  But  Theseus  was  not  like 
them.  He  felt  conscious  that  he  was  wiser, 
and  braver,  and  stronger  than  his  companions, 
and  that  therefore  he  had  the  responsibility  of 
all  their  lives  upon  him,  and  must  consider 
whether  there  was  no  way  to  save  them,  even 
in  this  last  extremity.  So  he  kept  himself 
awake,  and  paced  to  and  fro  across  the 
gloomy  dungeon  in  which  they  were  shut 
up. 

Just  before  midnight,  the  door  was  softly 
unbarred,  and  the  gentle  Ariadne  showed  her- 
self, with  a  torch  in  her  hand. 


46  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"Are  you  awake,  Prince  Theseus?"  she 
whispered. 

"Yes,"  answered  Theseus.  "With  so  little 
time  to  live,  I  do  not  choose  to  waste  any  of  it 
in  sleep." 

"Then  follow  me,"  said  Ariadne,  "and  tread 
softly." 

What  had  become  of  the  jailer  and  the  guards, 
Theseus  never  knew.  But,  however  that  might 
be,  Ariadne  opened  all  the  doors,  and  led  him 
forth  from  the  darksome  prison  into  the  pleasant 
moonlight. 

"Theseus,"  said  the  maiden,  "you  can  now 
get  on  board  your  vessel,  and  sail  away  for 
Athens." 

"No,"  answered  the  young  man;  "I  will 
never  leave  Crete  unless  I  can  first  slay  the 
Minotaur,  and  save  my  poor  companions,  and 
deliver  Athens  from  this  cruel  tribute." 

"  I  knew  that  this  would  be  your  resolution," 
said  Ariadne.  "Come,  then,  with  me,  brave 
Theseus.  Here  is  your  own  sword,  which  the 
guards  deprived  you  of.  You  will  need  it; 
and  pray  Heaven  you  may  use  it  well." 

Then  she  led  Theseus  along  by  the  hand  until 
they  came  to  a  dark,  shadowy  grove,  where 
the  moonlight  wasted  itself  on  the  tops  of  the 
trees,  without  shedding  hardly  so  much  as  a 
glimmering  beam  upon  their  pathway.  After 
going  a  good  way  through  this  obscurity,  they 


THE  MINOTAUR.  47 

reached  a  high,  marble  wall,  which  was  over- 
grown with  creeping  plants,  that  made  it  shaggy 
with  their  verdure.  The  wall  seemed  to  have 
no  door,  nor  any  windows,  but  rose  up,  lofty, 
and  massive,  and  mysterious,  and  was  neither 
to  be  clambered  over,  nor,  as  far  as  Theseus 
could  perceive,  to  be  passed  through.  Never- 
theless, Ariadne  did  but  press  one  of  her  soft 
little  fingers  against  a  particular  block  of  marble , 
and,  though  it  looked  as  solid  as  any  other  part 
of  the  wall,  it  yielded  to  her  touch,  disclosing, 
an  entrance  just  wide  enough  to  admit  them 
They  crept  through,  and  the  marble  stone 
swung  back  into  its  place. 

"We  are  now,"  said  Ariadne,  "in  the  famous 
labyrinth  which  Daedalus  built  before  he  made 
himself  a  pair  of  wings,  and  flew  away  from  our 
island  like  a  bird.  That  Daedalus  was  a  very 
cunning  workman;  but  of  all  his  artful  contriv-' 
ances,  this  labyrinth  is  the  most  wondrous. 
Were  we  to  take  but  a  few  steps  from  the  door- 
way, we  might  wander  about  all  our  lifetime, 
and  never  find  it  again.  Yet  in  the  very  center 
of  this  labyrinth  is  the  Minotaur ;  and,  Theseus, 
you  must  go  thither  to  seek  him." 

"But  how  shall  I  ever  find  him,"  asked 
Theseus,  "if  the  labyrinth  so  bewilders  me  as 
you  say  it  will?" 

Just  as  he  spoke,  they  heard  a  rough  and  very 
disagreeable  roar,  which  greatly  resembled  the 


48  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

lowing  of  a  fierce  bull,  but  yet  had  some  sort  of 
sound  like  the  human  voice.  Theseus  even 
fancied  a  rude  articulation  in  it,  as  if  the  creature 
that  uttered  it  were  trying  to  shape  his  hoarse 
breath  into  words.  It  was  at  some  distance, 
however,  and  he  really  could  not  tell  whether 
it  sounded  most  like  a  bull's  roar  or  a  man's 
harsh  voice. 

"That  is  the  Minotaur's  noise,"  whispered 
Ariadne,  closely  grasping  the  hand  of  Theseus, 
and  pressing  one  of  her  own  hands  to  her  heart, 
which  was  all  in  a  tremble.  "  You  must  follow 
that  sound  through  the  windings  of  the  laby- 
rinth, and,  by  and  by,  you  will  find  him.  Stay! 
take  the  end  of  this  silken  string;  I  will  hold 
the  other  end;  and  then,  if  you  win  the  victory, 
it  will  lead  you  again  to  this  spot.  Farewell, 
brave  Theseus." 

So  the  young  man  took  the  end  of  the  silken 
string  in  his  left  hand,  and  his  gold-hilted  sword, 
ready  drawn  from  its  scabbard,  in  the  other, 
and  trod  boldly  into  the  inscrutable  labyrinth. 
How  this  labyrinth  was  built  is  more  than  I 
can  tell  you.  But  so  cunningly  contrived  a 
mizmaze  was  never  seen  in  the  world,  before 
nor  since.  There  can  be  nothing  else  so  intri- 
cate, unless  it  were  the  brain  of  a  man  like 
Daedalus,  who  planned  it,  or  the  heart  of  any 
ordinary  man;  which  last,  to  be  sure,  is  ten 
times  as  great  a  mystery  as  the  labyrinth  of 


THE  MINOTAUR.  49 

Crete.  Theseus  had  not  taken  five  steps  before 
he  lost  sight  of  Ariadne;  and  in  five  more  his 
head  was  growing  dizzy.  But  still  he  went  on, 
now  creeping  through  a  low  arch,  now  ascend- 
ing a  flight  of  steps,  now  in  one  crooked  passage 
and  now  in  another,  with  here  a  door  opening 
before  him,  and  there  one  banging  behind, 
until  it  really  seemed  as  if  the  walls  spun  round, 
and  whirled  him  round  along  with  them.  And 
all  the  while,  through  these  hollow  avenues, 
now  nearer,  now  farther  off  again,  resounded 
the  cry  of  the  Minotaur;  and  the  sound  was  so 
fierce,  so  cruel,  so  ugly,  so  like  a  bull's  roar, 
and  withal  so  like  a  human  voice,  and  yet  like 
neither  of  them,  that  the  brave  heart  of  Theseus 
grew  sterner  and  angrier  at  every  step;  for  he 
felt  it  an  insult  to  the  moon  and  sky,  and  to  our 
affectionate  and  simple  Mother  Earth,  that  such 
a  monster  should  have  the  audacity  to  exist. 

As  he  passed  onward,  the  clouds  gathered 
over  the  moon,  and  the  labyrinth  grew  so 
dusky  that  Theseus  could  no  longer  discern 
the  bewilderment  through  which  he  was  pass- 
ing. He  would  have  left  quite  lost,  and  utterly 
hopeless  of  ever  again  walking  in  a  straight 
path,  if,  every  little  while,  he  had  not  been 
conscious  of  a  gentle  twitch  at  the  silken  cord. 
Then  he  knew  that  the  tender-hearted  Ariadne 
was  still  holding  the  other  end,  and  that  she 
was  fearing  for  him,  and  hoping  for  him,  and 


50  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

giving  him  just  as  much  of  her  sympathy  as  if 
she  were  close  by  his  side.  O,  indeed,  I  can 
assure  you,  there  was  a  vast  deal  of  human 
sympathy  running  along  that  slender  thread  of 
silk.  But  still  he  followed  the  dreadful  roar 
of  the  Minotaur,  which  now  grew  louder  and 
louder,  and  finally  so  very  loud  that  Theseus 
fully  expected  to  come  close  upon  him,  at  every 
new  zizgag  and  wriggle  of  the  path.  And  at 
last,  in  an  open  space,  at  the  very  center  of 
the  labyrinth,  he  did  discern  the  hideous 
creature. 

Sure  enough,  what  an  ugly  monster  it  was! 
Only  his  horned  head  belonged  to  a  bull;  and 
yet,  somehow  or  other,  he  looked  like  a  bull  all 
over,  preposterously  waddling  on  his  hind  legs; 
or,  if  you  happened  to  view  him  in  another  way, 
he  seemed  wholly  a  man,  and  all  the  more 
monstrous  for  being  so.  And  there  he  was,  the 
wretched  thing,  with  no  society,  no  companion, 
no  kind  of  a  mate,  living  only  to  do  mischief, 
and  incapable  of  knowing  what  affection  means. 
Theseus  hated  him,  and  shuddered  at  him, 
and  yet  could  not  but  be  sensible  of  some  sort 
of  pity;  and  all  the  more,  the  uglier  and  more 
detestable  the  creature  was.  For  he  kept  strid- 
ing to  and  fro,  in  a  solitary  frenzy  of  rage,  con- 
tinually emitting  a  hoarse  roar,  which  was  oddly 
mixed  up  with  half-shaped  words;  and,  after 
listening  a  while,  Theseus  understood  that  the 


THE  MINOTAUR.  5r 

Minotaur  was  saying  to  himself  how  miserable 
he  was,  and  how  hungry,  and  how  he  hated 
everybody,  and  how  he  longed  to  eat  up  the 
human  race  alive. 

Ah!  the  bull-headed  villain!  And  O,  my 
good  Httle  people,  you  will  perhaps  see,  one  of 
these  days,  as  I  do  now,  that  every  human  being 
who  suffers  any  thing  evil  to  get  into  his  nature, 
or  to  remain  there,  is  a  kind  of  Minotaur,  an. 
enemy  of  his  fellow-creatures,  and  separated 
from  all  good  companionship,  as  this  poor 
monster  was. 

Was  Theseus  afraid?  By  no  means,  my  dear 
auditors.  What!  a  hero  like  Theseus  afraid! 
Not  had  the  Minotaur  had  twenty  bull-heads 
instead  of  one.  Bold  as  he  was,  however,  I 
rather  fancy  that  it  strengthened  his  valiant 
heart,  just  at  this  crisis,  to  feel  a  tremulous 
twitch  at  the  silken  cord,  which  he  was  still 
holding  in  his  left  hand.  It  was  as  if  Ariadne 
were  giving  him  all  her  might  and  courage ;  and 
much  as  he  already  had,  and  little  as  she  had  to 
give,  it  made  his  own  seem  twice  as  much.  And 
to  confess  the  honest  truth,  he  needed  the  whole ; 
for  now  the  Minotaur,  turning  suddenly  about, 
caught  sight  of  Theseus,  and  instantly  lowered 
his  horribly  sharp  horns,  exactly  as  a  mad  bull 
does  when  he  means  to  rush  against  an  enemy. 
At  the  same  time,  he  belched  forth  a  tremendous 
roar,  in  which  there  was  something  like  the 


52  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

words  of  human  language,  but  all  disjointed  and 
shaken  to  pieces  by  passing  through  the  gullet 
of  a  miserably  enraged  brute. 

Theseus  could  only  guess  what  the  creature 
intended  to  say,  and  that  rather  by  his  gestures 
than  his  words;  for  the  Minotaur's  horns  were 
sharper  than  his  wits,  and  of  a  great  deal  more 
service  to  him  than  his  tongue.  But  probably 
this  was  the  sense  of  what  he  uttered: 

"Ah,  wretch  of  a  human  being!  I'll  stick 
my  horns  through  you,  and  toss  you  fifty  feet 
high,  and  eat  you  up  the  moment  you  come 
down." 

"Come  on,  then,  and  try  it!"  was  all  that 
Theseus  deigned  to  reply;  for  he  was  far  too 
magnanimous  to  assault  his  enemy  with  insolent 
language. 

Without  more  words  on  either  side,  there 
ensued  the  most  awful  fight  between  Theseus 
and  the  Minotaur  that  ever  happened  beneath 
the  sun  or  moon.  I  really  know  not  how  it 
might  have  turned  out,  if  the  monster,  in  his 
first  headlong  rush  against  Theseus,  had  not 
missed  him,  by  a  hair's  breadth,  and  broken 
one  of  his  horns  short  off  against  the  stone  wall. 
On  this  mishap,  he  bellowed  so  intolerably  that 
a  part  of  the  labyrinth  tumbled  down,  and  all  the 
inhabitants  of  Crete  mistook  the  noise  for  an 
uncommonly  heavy  thunder  storm.  Smarting 
with  the  pain,  he  galloped  around  the  open  space 


THE  MINOTAUR.  53 

in  so  ridiculous  a  way  that  Theseus  laughed  at 
it,  long  afterwards,  though  not  precisely  at  the 
moment.  After  this,  the  two  antagonists  stood 
valiantly  up  to  one  another,  and  fought,  sword 
to  horn,  for  a  long  while.  At  last,  the  Minotaur 
made  a  run  at  Theseus,  grazed  his  left  side  with 
his  horn,  and  flung  him  down;  and  thinking 
that  he  had  stabbed  him  to  the  heart,  he  cut  a 
great  caper  in  the  air,  opened  his  bull  mouth 
from  ear  to  ear,  and  prepared  to  snap  his  head 
off.  But  Theseus  by  this  time  had  leaped  up, 
and  caught  the  monster  off  his  guard.  Fetching 
a  sword  stroke  at  him  with  all  his  force,  he  hit 
him  fair  upon  the  neck,  and  made  his  bull  head 
skip  six  yards  from  his  human  body,  which  fell 
down  flat  upon  the  ground. 

So  now  the  battle  was  ended.  Immediately 
the  moon  shone  out  as  brightly  as  if  all  the 
troubles  of  the  world,  and  all  the  wickedness  and 
the  ugliness  that  infest  human  life,  were  past 
and  gone  forever.  And  Theseus,  as  he  leaned 
on  his  sword,  taking  breath,  felt  another  twitch 
of  the  silken  cord;  for  all  through  the  terrible 
encounter,  he  had  held  it  fast  in  his  left  hand. 
Eager  to  let  Ariadne  know  of  his  success,  he 
followed  the  guidance  of  the  thread,  and 
soon  found  himself  at  the  entrance  of  the 
labyrinth. 

"  Thou  hast  slain  the  monster,  "cried  Ariadne, 
clasping  her  hands. 


54  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"Thanks  to  thee,  dear  Ariadne,"  answered 
Theseus,  "  I  return  victorious." 

"Then,"  said  Ariadne,  "we  must  quickly 
summon  thy  friends,  and  get  them  and  thyself 
on  board  the  vessel  before  dawn.  If  morning 
finds  thee  here,  my  father  will  avenge  the 
Minotaur." 

To  make  my  story  short,  the  poor  captives 
were  awakened,  and,  hardly  knowing  whether 
it  was  not  a  joyful  dream,  were  told  of  what 
Theseus  had  done,  and  that  they  must  set  sail 
for  Athens  before  daybreak.  Hastening  down 
to  the  vessel,  they  all  clambered  on  board, 
except  Prince  Theseus,  who  lingered  behind 
them  on  the  strand,  holding  Ariadne's  hand 
clasped  in  his  own. 

"  Dear  maiden,"  said  he,  "  thou  wilt  surely  go 
with  us.  Thou  art  too  gentle  and  sweet  a  child 
for  such  an  iron-hearted  father  as  King  Minos. 
He  cares  no  more  for  thee  than  a  granite  rock 
cares  for  the  little  flower  that  grows  in  one  of  its 
crevices.  But  my  father,  King  ^Egeus,  and  my 
dear  mother,  JEfhra,,  and  all  the  fathers  and 
mothers  in  Athens,  and  all  the  sons  and  daugh- 
ters too,  will  love  and  honor  thee  as  their 
benefactress.  Come  with  us,  then;  for  King 
Minos  will  be  very  angry  when  he  knows  what 
thou  hast  done." 

Now,  some  low-minded  people,  who  pretend 
to  tell  the  story  of  Theseus  and  Ariadne,  have 


THE  MINOTAUR.  55 

the  face  to  say  that  this  royal  and  honorable 
maiden  did  really  flee  away,  under  cover  of  the 
night,  with  the  young  stranger  whose  life  she 
had  preserved.  They  say,  too,  that  Prince 
Theseus  (who  would  have  died  sooner  than 
wrong  the  meanest  creature  in  the  world) 
ungratefully  deserted  Ariadne,  on  a  solitary 
island,  where  the  vessel  touched  on  its  voyage 
to  Athens.  But,  had  the  noble  Theseus  heard 
these  falsehoods,  he  would  have  served  their 
slanderous  authors  as  he  served  the  Minotaur! 
Here  is  what  Ariadne  answered,  when  the  brave 
prince  of  Athens  besought  her  to  accompany 
him: 

"No,  Theseus,"  the  maiden  said,  pressing  his 
hand,  and  then  drawing  back  a  step  or  two, 
"  I  cannot  go  with  you.  My  father  is  old,  and 
has  nobody  but  myself  to  love  him.  Hard  as 
you  think  his  heart  is,  it  would  break  to  lose 
me.  At  first,  King  Minos  will  be  angry ;  but  he 
will  soon  forgive  his  only  child ;  and,  by  and  by, 
he  will  rejoice,  I  know,  that  no  more  youths 
and  maidens  must  come  from  Athens  to  be 
devoured  by  the  Minotaur.  I  have  saved  you, 
Theseus,  as  much  for  my  father's  sake  as  for 
your  own.  Farewell!  Heaven  bless  you!" 

All  this  was  so  true,  and  so  maiden-like,  and 
was  spoken  with  so  sweet  a  dignity,  that  Theseus 
would  have  blushed  to  urge  her  any  longer. 
Nothing  remained  for  him,  therefore,  but  to  bid 


56  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Ariadne  an  affectionate  farewell,  and  to  go  on 
board  the  vessel,  and  set  sail. 

In  a  few  moments  the  white  foam  was  boiling 
up  before  their  prow,  as  Prince  Theseus  and  his 
companions  sailed  out  of  the  harbor,  with 
a  whistling  breeze  behind  them.  Talus,  the 
brazen  giant,  on  his  never-ceasing  sentinel's 
march,  happened  to  be  approaching  that  part  of 
the  coast ;  and  they  saw  him,  by  the  glimmering 
of  the  moonbeams  on  his  polished  surface,  while 
he  was  yet  a  great  way  off.  As  the  figure  moved 
like  clockwork,  however,  and  could  neither 
hasten  his  enormous  strides  nor  retard  them, 
he  arrived  at  the  port  when  they  were  just 
beyond  the  reach  of  his  club.  Nevertheless, 
straddling  from  headland  to  headland,  as  his 
custom  was,  Talus  attempted  to  strike  a  blow 
at  the  vessel,  and,  overreaching  himself,  tumbled 
at  full  length  into  the  sea,  which  splashed  high 
over  his  gigantic  shape,  as  when  an  iceberg 
turns  a  somerset.  There  he  lies  yet;  and  who- 
ever desires  to  enrich  himself  by  means  of  brass 
had  better  go  thither  with  a  diving  bell,  and 
fish  up  Talus. 

On  the  homeward  voyage,  the  fourteen  youths 
and  damsels  were  in  excellent  spirits,  as  you  will 
easily  suppose.  They  spent  most  of  their  time 
in  dancing,  unless  when  the  sidelong  breeze 
made  the  deck  slope  too  much.  In  due  season, 
they  came  within  sight  of  the  coast  of  Attica, 


They  never  once  thought  whether  their  sails  were  black,  white,  or  rain- 
bow colored 


THE  MINOTAUR.  57 

which  was  their  native  country.  But  here,  I  am 
grieved  to  tell  you,  happened  a  sad  misfortune. 
You  will  remember  (what  Theseus  unfor- 
tunately forgot)  that  his  father,  King  ^Egeus, 
had  enjoined  it  upon  him  to  hoist  sunshiny  sails, 
instead  of  black  ones,  in  case  he  should  over- 
come the  Minotaur,  and  return  victorious.  In 
the  joy  of  their  success,  however,  and  amidst 
the  sports,  dancing,  and  other  merriment,  with 
which  these  young  folks  wore  away  the  time, 
they  never  once  thought  whether  their  sails 
were  black,  white,  or  rainbow  colored,  and, 
indeed,  left  it  entirely  to  the  mariners  whether 
they  had  any  sails  at  all.  Thus  the  vessel 
returned,  like  a  raven,  with  the  same  sable  wings 
that  had  wafted  her  away.  But  poor  King 
^Egeus,  day  after  day,  infirm  as  he  was,  had 
clambered  to  the  summit  of  a  cliff  that  over- 
hung the  sea,  and  there  sat  watching  for  Prince 
Theseus,  homeward  bound;  and  no  sooner  did 
he  behold  the  fatal  blackness  of  the  sails,  than  he 
concluded  that  his  dear  son,  whom  he  loved  so 
much,  and  felt  so  proud  of,  had  been  eaten  by 
the  Minotaur.  He  could  not  bear  the  thought 
of  living  any  longer;  so,  first  flinging  his  crown 
and  sceptre  into  the  sea  (useless  baubles  that 
they  were  to  him  now),  King  ^Egeus  merely 
stooped  forward,  and  fell  headlong  over  the 
cliff,  and  was  drowned,  poor  soul,  in  the  waves 
that  foamed  at  its  base! 


58  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

This  was  melancholy  news  for  Prince  Theseus, 
who,  when  he  stepped  ashore,  found  himself 
king  of  all  the  country,  whether  he  would  or  no ; 
and  such  a  turn  of  fortune  was  enough  to  make 
any  young  man  feel  very  much  out  of  spirits. 
However,  he  sent  for  his  dear  mother  to  Athens, 
and,  by  taking  her  advice  in  matters  of  state, 
became  a  very  excellent  monarch,  and  was 
greatly  beloved  by  his  people. 


THE  PYGMIES. 

A  great  while  ago,  when  the  world  was  full  of 
wonders,  there  lived  an  earth-born  Giant,  named 
Antaeus,  and  a  million  or  more  of  curious  little 
earth-born  people,  who  were  called  Pygmies. 
This  Giant  and  these  Pygmies  being  children  of 
the  same  mother  (that  is  to  say,  our  good  old 
Grandmother  Earth),  were  all  brethren,  and 
dwelt  together  in  a  very  friendly  and  affectionate 
manner,  far,  far  off,  in  the  middle  of  hot  Africa. 
The  Pygmies  were  so  small,  and  there  were  so 
many  sandy  deserts  and  such  high  mountains 
between  them  and  the  rest  of  mankind,  that 
nobody  could  get  a  peep  at  them  oftener  than 
once  in  a  hundred  years.  As  for  the  Giant, 
being  of  a  very  lofty  stature,  it  was  easy  enough 
to  see  him,  but  safest  to  keep  out  of  his  sight. 

Among  the  Pygmies,  I  suppose,  if  one  of  them 
grew  to  the  height  of  six  or  eight  inches,  he  was 
reckoned  a  prodigiously  tall  man.  It  must  have 
been  very  pretty  to  behold  their  little  cities, 
with  streets  two  or  three  feet  wide,  paved  with 
the  smallest  pebbles,  and  bordered  by  habita- 
tions about  as  big  as  a  squirrel's  cage.  The 

59 


6o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

king's  palace  attained  to  the  stupendous  mag- 
nitude of  Periwinkle's  baby  house,  and  stood  in 
the  center  of  a  spacious  square,  which  could 
hardly  have  been  covered  by  our  hearth-rug. 
Their  principal  temple,  or  cathedral,  was  as 
lofty  as  yonder  bureau,  and  was  looked  upon  as 
a  wonderfully  sublime  and  magnificent  edifice. 
All  these  structures  were  built  neither  of  stone 
nor  wood.  They  were  neatly  plastered  together 
by  the  Pygmy  workmen,  pretty  much  like 
birds'  nests,  out  of  straw,  feathers,  egg  shells,  and 
other  small  bits  of  stuff,  with  stiff  clay  instead  of 
mortar;  and  when  the  hot  sun  had  dried  them, 
they  were  just  as  snug  and  comfortable  as  a 
Pygmy  could  desire. 

The  country  round  about  was  conveniently 
laid  out  in  fields,  the  largest  of  which  was  nearly 
of  the  same  extent  as  one  of  Sweet  Fern's  flower 
beds.  Here  the  Pygmies  used  to  plant  wheat 
and  other  kinds  of  grain,  which,  when  it  grew 
up  and  ripened,  overshadowed  these  tiny  people 
as  the  pines,  and  the  oaks,  and  the  walnut  and 
chestnut  trees  overshadow  you  and  me,  when  we 
walk  in  our  own  tracts  of  woodland.  At  harvest 
time,  they  were  forced  to  go  with  their  little 
axes  and  cut  down  the  grain,  exactly  as  a  wood- 
cutter makes  a  clearing  in  the  forest ;  and  when 
a  stalk  of  wheat,  with  its  overburdened  top, 
chanced  to  come  crashing  down  upon  an  un- 
fortunate Pygmy,  it  was  apt  to  be  a  very  sad 


THE  PYGMIES.  61 

affair.  If  it  did  not  smash  him  all  to  pieces,  at 
least,  I  am  sure,  it  must  have  made  the  poor 
little  fellow's  head  ache.  And  O,  my  stars!  if 
the  fathers  and  mothers  were  so  small,  what 
must  the  children  and  babies  have  been?  A 
whole  family  of  them  might  have  been  put  to 
bed  in  a  shoe,  or  have  crept  into  an  old  glove, 
and  played  at  hide-and-seek  in  its  thumb  and 
fingers.  You  might  have  hidden  a  year-old 
baby  under  a  thimble. 

Now  these  funny  Pygmies,  as  I  told  you 
before,  had  a  Giant  for  their  neighbor  and 
brother,  who  was  bigger,  if  possible,  than  they 
were  little.  He  was  so  very  tall  that  he  carried 
a  pine  tree,  which  was  eight  feet  through  the 
butt,  for  a  walking  stick.  It  took  a  far-sighted 
Pygmy,  I  can  assure  you,  to  discern  his  summit 
without  the  help  of  a  telescope;  and  sometimes, 
in  misty  weather,  they  could  not  see  his  upper 
half,  but  only  his  long  legs,  which  seemed  to  be 
striding  about  by  themselves.  But  at  noonday 
in  a  clear  atmosphere,  when  the  sun  shone 
brightly  over  him,  the  Giant  Antaeus  presented 
a  very  grand  spectacle.  There  he  used  to  stand, 
a  perfect  mountain  of  a  man,  with  his  great 
countenance  smiling  down  upon  his  little 
brothers,  and  his  one  vast  eye  (which  was  as 
big  as  a  cart  wheel,  and  placed  right  in  the 
center  of  his  forehead)  giving  a  friendly  wink 
to  the  whole  nation  at  once. 


62  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

The  Pygmies  loved  to  talk  with  Antaeus ;  and 
fifty  times  a  day,  one  or  another  of  them  would 
turn  up  his  head,  and  shout  through  the  hollow 
of  his  fists,  "Halloo,  brother  Antaeus!  How 
are  you,  my  good  fellow?"  And  when  the 
small  distant  squeak  of  their  voices  reached  his 
ear,  the  Giant  would  make  answer,  "  Pretty  well, 
brother  Pygmy,  I  thank  you,"  in  a  thunderous 
roar  that  would  have  shaken  down  the  walls 
of  their  strongest  temple,  only  that  it  came  from 
so  far  aloft. 

It  was  a  happy  circumstance  that  Antaeus 
was  the  Pygmy  people's  friend;  for  there  was 
more  strength  in  his  little  finger  than  in  ten 
million  of  such  bodies  as  this.  If  he  had  been  as 
ill-natured  to  them  as  he  was  to  everybody  else, 
he  might  have  beaten  down  their  biggest  city 
at  one  kick,  and  hardly  have  known  that  he  did 
it.  With  the  tornado  of  his  breath,  he  could 
have  stripped  the  roofs  from  a  hundred  dwellings 
and  sent  thousands  of  the  inhabitants  whirling 
through  the  air.  He  might  have  set  his  immense 
foot  upon  a  multitude ;  and  -when  he  took  it  up 
again,  there  would  have  been  a  pitiful  sight, 
to  be  sure.  But,  being  the  son  of  Mother 
Earth,  as  they  likewise  were,  the  Giant  gave 
them  his  brotherly  kindness,  and  loved  them 
with  as  big  a  love  as  it  was  possible  to  feel  for 
creatures  so  very  small.  And,  on  their  parts, 
the  Pygmies  loved  Antaeus  with  as  much 


THE  PYGMIES.  63 

affection  as  their  tiny  hearts  could  hold.  He  was 
always  ready  to  do  them  any  good  offices  that 
lay  in  his  power;  as  for  example,  when  they 
wanted  a  breeze  to  turn  their  windmills,  the 
Giant  would  set  all  the  sails  a-going  with  the 
mere  natural  respiration  of  his  lungs.  When  the 
sun  was  too  hot,  he  often  sat  himself  down,  and 
let  his  shadow  fall  over  the  kingdom,  from  one 
frontier  to  the  other;  and  as  for  matters  in 
general,  he  was  wise  enough  to  let  them  alone „ 
and  leave  the  Pygmies  to  manage  their  own 
affairs — which,  after  all,  is  about  the  best 
thing  that  great  people  can  do  for  little  ones. 

In  short,  as  I  said  before,  Antaeus  loved  the 
Pygmies,  and  the  Pygmies  loved  Antaeus.  The 
Giant's  life  being  as  long  as  his  body  was  large, 
while  the  lifetime  of  a  Pygmy  was  but  a  span, 
this  friendly  intercourse  had  been  going  on  for 
innumerable  generations  and  ages.  It  was 
written  about  in  the  Pygmy  histories,  and  talked 
about  in  their  ancient  traditions.  The  most 
venerable  and  white-bearded  Pygmy  had  never 
heard  of  a  time,  even  in  his  greatest  of  grand- 
fathers' days,  when  the  Giant  was  not  their 
enormous  friend.  Once,  to  be  sure  (as  was 
recorded  on  an  obelisk,  three  feet  high,  erected 
on  the  place  of  the  catastrophe),  Antaeus  sat 
down  upon  about  five  thousand  Pygmies,  who 
were  assembled  at  a  military  review.  But  this 
was  one  of  those  unlucky  accidents  for  which 


64  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

nobody  is  to  blame;  so  that  the  small  folks 
never  took  it  to  heart,  and  only  requested  the 
Giant  to  be  careful  forever  afterwards  to  examine 
the  acre  of  ground  where  he  intended  to  squat 
himself. 

It  is  a  very  pleasant  picture  to  imagine 
Antaeus  standing  among  the  Pygmies,  like  the 
spire  of  the  tallest  cathedral  that  ever  was  built, 
while  they  ran  about  like  pismires  at  his  feet; 
and  to  think  that,  in  spite  of  their  difference  in 
size,  there  were  affection  and  sympathy  between 
them  and  him!  Indeed,  it  has  always  seemed 
to  me  that  the  Giant  needed  the  little  people 
more  than  the  Pygmies  needed  the  Giant.  For, 
unless  they  had  been  his  neighbors  and  well 
wishers,  and,  as  we  may  say,  his  playfellows, 
Antaeus  would  not  have  had  a  single  friend  in 
the  world.  No  other  being  like  himself  had  ever 
been  created.  No  creature  of  his  own  size  had 
ever  talked  with  him,  in  thunder-like  accents, 
face  to  face.  When  he  stood  with  his  head 
among  the  clouds,  he  was  quite  alone,  and  had 
been  so  for  hundreds  of  years,  and  would  be  so 
forever.  Even  if  he  had  met  another  Giant, 
Antaeus  would  have  fancied  the  world  not  big 
enough  for  two  such  vast  personages,  and, 
instead  of  being  friends  with  him,  would  have 
fought  him  till  one  of  the  two  was  killed.  But 
with  the  Pygmies  he  was  the  most  sportive 
and  humorous,  and  merry-hearted,  and  sweet- 


THE  PYGMIES.  65 

tempered  old  Giant  that  ever  washed  his  face  in 
a  wet  cloud. 

His  little  friends,  like  all  other  small  people, 
had  a  great  opinion  of  their  own  importance, 
and  used  to  assume  quite  a  patronizing  air 
towards  the  Giant. 

"Poor  creature!"  they  said  one  to  another. 
"He  has  a  very  dull  time  of  it,  all  by  himself; 
and  we  ought  not  to  grudge  wasting  a  little  of 
our  precious  time  to  amuse  him.  He  is  not  half 
so  bright  as  we  are,  to  be  sure;  and,  for  that 
reason,  he  needs  us  to  look  after  his  comfort 
and  happiness.  Let  us  be  kind  to  the  old  fellow. 
Why,  if  Mother  Earth  had  not  been  very  kind 
to  ourselves,  we  might  all  have  been  Giants 
too." 

On  all  their  holidays,  the  Pygmies  had  ex- 
cellent sport  with  Antaeus.  He  often  stretched 
himself  out  at  full  length  on  the  ground,  where 
he  looked  like  the  long  ridge  of  a  hill;  and  it 
was  a  good  hour's  walk,  no  doubt,  for  a  short- 
legged  Pygmy  to  journey  from  head  to  foot  of 
the  Giant.  He  would  lay  down  his  great  hand 
flat  on  the  grass,  and  challenge  the  tallest  of 
them  to  clamber  upon  it,  and  straddle  from 
finger  to  finger.  So  fearless  were  they,  that 
they  made  nothing  of  creeping  in  among  the 
folds  of  his  garments.  When  his  head  lay 
side  wise  on  the  earth,  they  would  march  boldly 
up,  and  peep  into  the  great  cavern  of  his  mouth, 


66  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

and  take  it  all  as  a  joke  (as  indeed  it  was  meant) 
when  Antaeus  gave  a  sudden  snap  of  his  jaws, 
as  if  he  were  going  to  swallow  fifty  of  them  at 
once.  You  would  have  laughed  to  see  the 
children  dodging  in  and  out  among  his  hair, 
or  swinging  from  his  beard.  It  is  impossible 
to  tell  half  of  the  funny  tricks  that  they  played 
with  their  huge  comrade;  but  I  do  not  know 
that  anything  was  more  curious  than  when  a 
party  of  boys  were  seen  running  races  on  his 
forehead,  to  try  which  of  them  could  get  first 
round  the  circle  of  his  one  great  eye.  It  was 
another  favorite  feat  with  them  to  march 
along  the  bridge  of  his  nose,  and  jump  down 
upon  his  upper  lip. 

If  the  truth  must  be  told,  they  were  some- 
times as  troublesome  to  the  Giant  as  a  swarm 
of  ants  or  mosquitoes,  especially  as  they  had  a 
fondness  for  mischief,  and  liked  to  prick  his 
skin  with  their  little  swords  and  lances,  to  see 
how  thick  and  tough  it  was.  But  Antaeus  took 
it  all  kindly  enough;  although,  once  in  a  while, 
when  he  happened  to  be  sleepy,  he  would 
grumble  out  a  peevish  word  or  two,  like  the 
muttering  of  a  tempest,  and  ask  them  to  have 
done  with  their  nonsense.  A  great  deal  oftener, 
however,  he  watched  their  merriment  and 
gambols  until  his  huge,  heavy,  clumsy  wits  were 
completely  stirred  up  by  them;  and  then  would 
he  roar  out  such  a  tremendous  volume  of 


They  were  constantly  at  war  with  the  cranes 


THE  PYGMIES.  67 

immeasurable  laughter,  that  the  whole  nation 
of  Pygmies  had  to  put  their  hands  to  their  ears, 
else  it  would  certainly  have  deafened  them. 

"Ho!  ho!  ho!"  quoth  the  Giant,  shaking 
his  mountainous  sides.  "What  a  funny  thing 
it  is  to  be  little !  If  I  were  not  Antaeus,  I  should 
like  to  be  a  Pygmy,  just  for  the  joke's  sake." 

The  Pygmies  had  but  one  thing  to  trouble 
them  in  the  world.  They  were  constantly  at 
war  with  the  cranes,  and  had  always  been  so, 
ever  since  the  long-lived  Giant  could  remember. 
From  time  to  time,  very  terrible  battles  had 
been  fought  in  which  sometimes  the  little  men 
won  the  victory,  and  sometimes  the  cranes. 
According  to  some  historians,  the  Pygmies  used 
to  go  to  the  battle,  mounted  on  the  backs  of 
goats  and  rams;  but  such  animals  as  these 
must  have  been  far  too  big  for  Pygmies  to 
ride  upon;  so  that,  I  rather  suppose,  they  rode 
on  squirrelback,  or  rabbitback,  or  ratback,  or 
perhaps  got  upon  hedgehogs,  whose  prickly 
quills  would  be  very  terrible  to  the  enemy. 
However  this  might  be,  and  whatever  creatures 
the  Pygmies  rode  upon,  I  do  not  doubt  that 
they  made  a  formidable  appearance,  armed 
with  sword  and  spear,  and  bow  and  arrow, 
blowing  their  tiny  trumpet,  and  shouting  their 
little  war  cry.  They  never  failed  to  exhort  one 
another  to  fight  bravely,  and  recollect  that  the 
world  had  its  eves  upon  them;  although,  in 


68  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

simple  truth,  the  only  spectator  was  the  Giant 
Antaeus,  with  his  one,  great,  stupid  eye  in  the 
middle  of  his  forehead. 

When  the  two  armies  joined  battle,  the  cranes 
would  rush  forward,  flapping  their  wings  and 
stretching  out  their  necks,  and  would  perhaps 
snatch  up  some  of  the  Pygmies  crosswise  in 
their  beaks.  Whenever  this  happened,  it  was 
truly  an  awful  spectacle  to  see  those  little  men 
of  might  kicking  and  sprawling  in  the  air,  and 
at  last  disappearing  down  the  crane's  long, 
crooked  throat,  swallowed  up  alive.  A  hero, 
you  know,  must  hold  himself  in  readiness  for 
any  kind  of  fate;  and  doubtless  the  glory  of  the 
thing  was  a  consolation  to  him,  even  in  the 
crane's  gizzard.  If  Antasus  observed  that  the 
battle  was  going  hard  against  his  little  allies, 
he  generally  stopped  laughing,  and  ran  with' 
mile-long  strides  to  their  assistance,  flourishing 
his  club  aloft  and  shouting  at  the  cranes,  who 
quacked  and  croaked,  and  retreated  as  fast  as 
they  could.  Then  the  Pygmy  army  would  march 
homeward  in  triumph,  attributing  the  victory 
entirely  to  their  own  valor,  and  to  the  warlike 
skill  and  strategy  of  whomsoever  happened  to 
be  captain  general ;  and  for  a  tedious  while  after- 
wards, nothing  would  be  heard  of  but  grand  pro- 
cessions, and  public  banquets,  a  nd  brilliant  illu- 
minations, and  shows  of  wax- work,  with  likenesses 
of  the  distinguished  officers,  as  small  as  life. 


THE  PYGMIES.  69 

In  the  above-described  warfare,  if  a  Pygmy 
chanced  to  pluck  out  a  crane's  tail  feather,  it 
proved  a  very  great  feather  in  his  cap.  Once  or 
twice,  if  you  will  believe  me,  a  little  man  was 
made  chief  ruler  of  the  nation  for  no  other  merit 
in  the  world  than  bringing  home  such  a  feather. 

But  I  have  now  said  enough  to  let  you  see 
what  a  gallant  little  people  these  were,  and 
how  happily  they  and  their  forefathers,  for 
nobody  knows  how  many  generations,  had  lived 
with  the  immeasurable  Giant  Antaeus.  In  the 
remaining  part  of  the  story,  I  shall  tell  you  of  a 
far  more  astonishing  battle  than  any  that  was 
fought  between  the  Pygmies  and  the  cranes. 

One  day  the  mighty  Antaeus  was  lolling  at 
full  length  among  his  little  friends.  His  pine- 
tree  walking  stick  lay  on  the  ground,  close  by 
his  side.  His  head  was  in  one  part  of  the 
kingdom,  and  his  feet  extended  across  the 
boundaries  of  another  part;  and  he  was  taking 
whatever  comfort  he  could  get,  while  the 
Pygmies  scrambled  over  him,  and  peeped  into 
his  cavernous  mouth,  and  played  among  his 
hair.  Sometimes,  for  a  minute  or  two,  the 
Giant  dropped  asleep,  and  snored  like  the  rush 
of  a  whirlwind.  During  one  of  these  little  bits 
of  slumber,  a  Pygmy  chanced  to  climb  upon  his 
shoulder,  and  took  a  view  around  the  horizon, 
as  from  the  summit  of  a  hill;  and  he  beheld 
something,  a  long  way  off,  which  made  him 


7o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

rub  the  bright  specks  of  his  eyes,  and  look 
sharper  than  before.  At  first  he  mistook  it  for  a 
mountain,  and  wondered  how  it  had  grown  up 
so  suddenly  out  of  the  earth.  But  soon  he  saw 
the  mountain  move.  As  it  came  nearer  and 
nearer,  what  should  it  turn  out  to  be  but  a 
human  shape,  not  so  big  as  Antaeus,  it  is  true, 
although  a  very  enormous  figure,  in  comparison 
with  Pygmies,  and  a  vast  deal  bigger  than  the 
men  we  see  nowadays. 

When  the  Pygmy  was  quite  satisfied  that  his 
eyes  had  not  deceived  him,  he  scampered,  as 
fast  as  his  legs  would  carry  him,  to  the  Giant's 
ear,  and  stooping  over  its  cavity,  shouted 
lustily  into  it : 

"Halloo,  brother  Antaeus!  Get  up  this  min- 
ute, and  take  your  pine-tree  walking  stick 
in  your  hand.  Here  comes  another  Giant  to 
have  a  tussle  with  you." 

"Poh,  poh!"  grumbled  Antaeus,  only  half 
awake.  "  None  of  your  nonsense,  my  little 
fellow!  Don't  you  see  I'm  sleepy?  There  is 
not  a  Giant  on  earth  for  whom  I  would  take 
the  trouble  to  get  up." 

But  the  Pygmy  looked  again,  and  now 
perceived  that  the  stranger  was  coming  directly 
towards  the  prostrate  form  of  Antaeus.  With 
every  step,  he  looked  less  like  a  blue  mountain, 
and  more  like  an  immensely  large  man.  He 
was  soon  so  nigh,  that  there  could  be  no  possible 


THE  PYGMIES.  71 

mistake  about  the  matter.  There  he  was,  with 
the  sun  flaming  on  his  golden  helmet,  and 
flashing  from  his  polished  breastplate;  he  had 
a  sword  by  his  side,  and  a  lion's  skin  over  his 
back,  and  on  his  right  shoulder  he  carried  a 
club,  which  looked  bulkier  and  heavier  than 
the  pine-tree  walking-stick  of  Antaeus. 

By  this  time,  the  whole  nation  of  the  Pygmies 
had  seen  the  new  wonder,  and  a  million  of  them 
set  up  a  shout  all  together;  so  that  it  really 
made  quite  an  audible  squeak. 

"Get  up,  Antaeus!  Bestir  yourself,  you  lazy 
old  Giant!  Here  comes  another  Giant,  as 
strong  as  you  are,  to  fight  with  you." 

"Nonsense,  nonsense!"  growled  the  sleepy 
Giant.  "I'll  have  my  nap  out,  come  who 
may." 

Still  the  stranger  drew  nearer;  and  now  the 
Pygmies  could  plainly  discern  that,  if  his  stature 
were  less  lofty  than  the  Giant's,  yet  his  shoulders 
were  even  broader.  And,  in  truth,  what  a  pair 
of  shoulders  they  must  have  been!  As  I  told 
you,  a  long  while  ago,  they  once  upheld  the  sky. 
The  Pygmies,  being  ten  times  as  vivacious  as 
their  great  numskull  of  a  brother,  could  not 
abide  the  Giant's  slow  movements,  and  were 
determined  to  have  him  on  his  feet.  So  they 
kept  shouting  to  him,  and  even  went  so  far  as  to 
prick  him  with  their  swords. 

"Get  up,  get  up,  get  up,"  they  cried.     "Up 


7  2  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

with  you,  lazy  bones!  The  strange  Giant's 
club  is  bigger  than  your  own,  his  shoulders  are 
the  broadest,  and  we  think  him  the  stronger  of 
the  two." 

Antaeus  could  not  endure  to  have  it  said  that 
any  mortal  was  half  so  mighty  as  himself.  This 
latter  remark  of  the  Pygmies  pricked  him  deeper 
than  their  swords;  and,  sitting  up,  in  rather  a 
sulky  humor,  he  gave  a  gape  of  several  yards 
wide,  rubbed  his  eyes,  and  finally  turned  his 
stupid  head  in  the  direction  whither  his  little 
friends  were  eagerly  pointing. 
-  No  sooner  did  he  set  eyes  on  the  stranger, 
than,  leaping  on  his  feet,  and  seizing  his  walking 
stick,  he  strode  a  mile  or  two  to  meet  him;  all 
the  while  brandishing  the  sturdy  pine  tree,  so 
that  it  whistled  through  the  air. 

"Who  are  you?"  thundered  the  Giant. 
"And  what  do  you  want  in  my  dominions?" 

There  was  one  strange  thing  about  Antaeus,  of 
which  I  have  not  yet  told  you,  lest,  hearing  of 
so  many  wonders  all  in  a  lump,  you  might  not 
believe  much  more  than  half  of  them.  You  are 
to  know,  then,  that  whenever  this  redoubtable 
Giant  touched  the  ground,  either  with  his  hand, 
his  foot,  or  any  other  part  of  his  body,  he  grew 
stronger  than  ever  he  had  been  before.  The 
Earth,  you  remember,  was  his  mother,  and  was 
very  fond  of  him,  as  being  almost  the  biggest 
of  her  children;  and  so  she  took  this  method  of 


THE  PYGMIES.  73 

keeping  him  always  in  full  vigor.  Some  per- 
sons affirm  that  he  grew  ten  times  stronger 
at  every  touch;  others  say  that  it  was  only 
twice  as  strong.  But  only  think  of  it!  When- 
ever Antaeus  took  a  walk,  supposing  it  were  but 
ten  miles,  and  that  he  stepped  a  hundred  yards 
at  a  stride,  you  may  try  to  cipher  out  how  much 
mightier  he  was,  on  sitting  down  again,  than 
when  he  first  started.  And  whenever  he  flung 
himself  on  the  earth  to  take  a  little  repose,  even 
if  he  got  up  the  very  next  instant,  he  would  be 
as  strong  as  exactly  ten  just  such  giants  as  his 
former  self.  It  was  well  for  the  world  that 
Antaeus  happened  to  be  of  a  sluggish  disposition 
and  liked  ease  better  than  exercise;  for,  if  he 
had  frisked  about  like  the  Pygmies,  and  touched 
the  earth  as  often  as  they  did,  he  would  long 
ago  have  been  strong  enough  to  pull  down  the 
sky  about  people's  ears.  But  these  great 
lubberly  fellows  resemble  mountains,  not  only 
in  bulk,  but  in  their  disinclination  to  move. 

Any  other  mortal  man,  except  the  very  one 
whom  Antaeus  had  now  encountered,  would  have 
been  half  frightened  to  death  by  the  Giant's 
ferocious  aspect  and  terrible  voice.  But  the 
stranger  did  not  seem  at  all  disturbed.  He 
carelessly  lifted  his  club,  and  balanced  it  in  his 
hand,  measuring  Antaeus  with  his  eye,  from 
head  to  foot,  not  as  if  wonder-smitten  at  his 
stature,  but  as  if  he  had  seen  a  great  many 


74  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Giants  before,  and  this  was  by  no  means  the 
biggest  of  them.  In  fact,  if  the  Giant  had  been 
no  bigger  than  the  Pygmies  (who  stood  pricking 
up  their  ears,  and  looking  and  listening  to 
what  was  going  forward),  the  stranger  could 
not  have  been  less  afraid  of  him. 

"Who  are  you,  I  say?"  roared  Antaeus  again. 
"What's  your  name?  Why  do  you  come 
hither?  Speak,  you  vagabond,  or  I'll  try  the 
thickness  of  your  skull  with  my  walking-stick." 

"You  are  a  very  discourteous  Giant," 
answered  the  stranger  quietly,  "and  I  shall 
probably  have  to  teach  you  a  little  civility, 
before  we  part.  As  for  my  name,  it  is  Hercules. 
I  have  come  hither  because  this  is  my  most  con- 
venient road  to  the  garden  of  the  Hesperides, 
whither  I  am  going  to  get  three  of  the  golden 
apples  for  King  Eurystheus." 

"Caitiff,  you  shall  go  no  farther!"  bellowed 
Antaeus,  putting  on  a  grimmer  look  than  before ; 
for  he  had  heard  of  the  mighty  Hercules,  and 
hated  him  because  he  was  said  to  be  so  strong. 
"Neither  shall  you  go  back  whence  you  came!" 

"How  will  you  prevent  me,"  asked  Hercules, 
"  from  going  whither  I  please? " 

"By  hitting  you  a  rap  with  this  pine  tree 
here,"  shouted  Antaeus,  scowling  so  that  he 
made  himself  the  ugliest  monster  in  Africa. 
"I  am  fifty  times  stronger  than  you;  and 
now  that  I  stamp  my  foot  upon  the  ground,  I 


THE  PYGMIES.  75 

am  five  hundred  times  stronger!  I  am  ashamed 
to  kill  such  a  puny  little  dwarf  as  you  seem  to  be. 
I  will  make  a  slave  of  you,  and  you  shall  likewise 
be  the  slave  of  my  brethren  here,  the  Pygmies. 
So  throw  down  your  club  and  your  other 
weapons;  and  as  for  that  lion's  skin,  I  intend 
to  have  a  pair  of  gloves  made  of  it." 

"Come  and  take  it  off  my  shoulders,  then," 
answered  Hercules,  lifting  his  club. 

Then  the  Giant,  grinning  with  rage,  strode 
tower-like  towards  the  stranger  (ten  times 
strengthened  at  every  step),  and  fetched  a 
monstrous  blow  at  him  with  his  pine  tree,  which 
Hercules  caught  upon  his  club ;  and  being  more 
skilful  than  Antaeus,  he  paid  him  back  such  a 
rap  upon  the  sconce,  that  down  tumbled  the 
great  lumbering  man-mountain,  flat  upon  the 
ground.  The  poor  little  Pygmies  (who  really 
never  dreamed  that  anybody  in  the  world  was 
half  so  strong  as  their  brother  Antaeus)  were  a 
good  deal  dismayed  at  this.  But  no  sooner  was 
the  Giant  down,  than  up  he  bounced  again, 
with  tenfold  might,  and  such  a  furious  visage 
as  was  horrible  to  behold.  He  aimed  another 
blow  at  Hercules,  but  struck  awry,  being  blinded 
with  wrath,  and  only  hit  his  poor  innocent 
Mother  Earth,  who  groaned  and  trembled  at  the 
stroke.  His  pine  tree  went  so  deep  into  the 
ground,  and  stuck  there  so  fast,  that,  before 
Antaeus  could  get  it  out,  Hercules  brought  down 


76  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

his  club  across  his  shoulders  with  a  mighty 
thwack,  which  made  the  Giant  roar  as  if  all 
sorts  of  intolerable  noises  had  come  screeching 
and  rumbling  out  of  his  immeasurable  lungs  in 
that  one  cry.  Away  it  went,  over  mountains 
and  valleys,  and,  for  aught  I  know,  was  heard 
on  the  other  side  of  the  African  deserts. 

As  for  the  Pygmies,  their  capital  city  was 
laid  in  ruins  by  the  concussion  and  vibration 
of  the  air ;  and,  though  there  was  uproar  enough 
without  their  help,  they  all  set  up  a  shriek  out 
of  three  millions  of  little  throats,  fancying,  no 
doubt,  that  they  swelled  the  Giant's  bellow  by 
at  least  ten  times  as  much.  Meanwhile,  Antaeus 
had  scrambled  upon  his  feet  again,  and  pulled 
his  pine  tree  out  of  the  earth;  and,  all  aflame 
with  fury,  and  more  outrageously  strong  than 
ever,  he  ran  at  Hercules,  and  brought  down 
another  blow. 

"This  time,  rascal,"  shouted  he,  "you  shall 
not  escape  me." 

But  once  more  Hercules  warded  off  the  stroke 
with  his  club,  and  the  Giant's  pine  tree  was 
shattered  into  a  thousand  splinters,  most  of 
which  flew  among  the  Pygmies,  and  did  them 
more  mischief  than  I  like  to  think  about.  Before 
Antaeus  could  get  out  of  the  way,  Hercules  let 
drive  again,  and  gave  him  another  knock-down 
blow,  which  sent  him  heels  over  head,  but  served 
only  to  increase  his  already  enormous  and 


THE  PYGMIES.  77 

insufferable  strength.  As  for  his  rage,  there  is 
no  telling  what  a  fiery  furnace  it  had  now  got 
to  be.  His  one  eye  was  nothing  but  a  circle 
of  red  flame.  Having  now  no  weapons  but  his 
fists,  he  doubled  them  up  (each  bigger  than  a 
hogshead),  smote  one  against  the  other,  and 
danced  up  and  down  with  absolute  frenzy, 
flourishing  his  immense  arms  about,  as  if  he 
meant  not  merely  to  kill  Hercules,  but  to 
smash  the  whole  world  to  pieces. 

"Come  on!"  roared  this  thundering  Giant. 
"  Let  me  hit  you  but  one  box  on  the  ear,  and 
you'll  never  have  the  headache  again." 

Now  Hercules  (though  strong  enough,  as  you 
already  know,  to  hold  the  sky  up)  began  to  be 
sensible  that  he  should  never  win  the  victory, 
if  he  kept  on  knocking  Antaeus  down;  for,  by 
and  by,  if  he  hit  him  such  hard  blows,  the  Giant 
would  inevitably,  by  the  help  of  his  Mother 
Earth,  become  stronger  than  the  mighty  Her- 
cules himself.  So,  throwing  down  his  club,  with 
which  he  had  fought  so  many  dreadful  battles, 
the  hero  stood  ready  to  receive  his  antagonist 
with  naked  arms. 

"  Step  forward, ' '  cried  he.  ' '  Since  I 've  broken 
your  pine  tree,  we'll  try  which  is  the  better 
man  at  a  wrestling  match." 

"Aha!  then  I'll  soon  satisfy  you,"  shouted 
the  Giant;  for,  if  there  was  one  thing  on  which 
he  prided  himself  more  than  another,  it  was  his 


78  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

skill  in  wrestling.  "Villain,  I'll  fling  you  where 
you  can  never  pick  yourself  up  again." 

On  came  Antaeus,  hopping  and  capering  with 
the  scorching  heat  of  his  rage,  and  getting  new 
vigor  wherewith  to  wreak  his  passion,  every 
time  he  hopped.  But  Hercules,  you  must  under- 
stand, was  wiser  than  this  numskull  of  a  Giant, 
and  had  thought  of  a  way  to  fight  him — huge, 
earth-born  monster  that  he  was — and  to  conquer 
him  too,  in  spite  of  all  that  his  Mother  Earth 
could  do  for  him.  Watching  his  opportunity, 
as  the  mad  Giant  made  a  rush  at  him,  Hercules 
caught  him  round  the  middle  with  both  hands, 
lifted  him  high  into  the  air,  and  held  him  aloft 
overhead. 

Just  imagine  it,  my  dear  little  friends.  What 
a  spectacle  it  must  have  been,  to  see  this 
monstrous  fellow  sprawling  in  the  air,  face 
downwards,  kicking  out  his  long  legs  and  wrig- 
gling his  whole  vast  body,  like  a  baby  when  its 
father  holds  it  at  arm's  length  towards  the 
ceiling. 

But  the  most  wonderful  thing  was,  that,  as 
soon  as  Antaeus  was  fairly  off  the  earth,  he  began 
to  lose  the  vigor  which  he  had  gained  by  touch- 
ing it.  Hercules  very  soon  perceived  that  his 
troublesome  enemy  was  growing  weaker,  both 
because  he  struggled  and  kicked  with  less 
violence,  and  because  the  thunder  of  his  big 
voice  subsided  into  a  grumble.  The  truth  was 


THE  PYGMIES.  79 

that  unless  the  Giant  touched  Mother  Earth  as 
often  as  once  in  five  minutes,  not  only  his 
overgrown  strength,  but  the  very  breath  of  his 
life,  would  depart  from  him.  Hercules  had 
guessed  this  secret;  and  it  may  be  well  for  us 
all  to  remember  it,  in  case  we  should  ever  have 
to  fight  a  battle  with  a  fellow  like  Antaeus.  For 
these  earth-born  creatures  are  only  difficult  to 
conquer  on  their  own  ground,  but  may  easily 
be  managed  if  we  can  contrive  to  lift  them  into  a 
loftier  and  purer  region.  So  it  proved  with  the 
poor  Giant,  whom  I  am  really  a  little  sorry  for, 
notwithstanding  his  uncivil  way  of  treating 
strangers  who  came  to  visit  him. 

When  his  strength  and  breath  were  quite  gone, 
Hercules  gave  his  huge  body  a  toss,  and  flung 
it  about  a  mile  off,  where  it  fell  heavily,  and  lay 
with  no  more  motion  than  a  sand  hill.  It  was 
too  late  for  the  Giant's  Mother  Earth  to  help 
him  now ;  and  I  should  not  wonder  if  his  ponder- 
ous bones  were  lying  on  the  same  spot  to  this 
very  day,  and  were  mistaken  for  those  of  an 
uncommonly  large  elephant. 

But,  alas  me!  What  a  wailing  did  the  poor 
little  Pygmies  set  up  when  they  saw  their 
enormous  brother  treated  in  this  terrible  man- 
ner! If  Hercules  heard  their  shrieks,  how- 
ever, he  took  no  notice,  and  perhaps  fancied 
them  only  the  shrill,  plaintive  twittering  of 
small  birds  that  had  been  frightened  from  their 


8o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

nests  by  the  uproar  of  the  battle  between  himself 
and  Antaeus.  Indeed,  his  thoughts  had  been  so 
much  taken  up  with  the  Giant,  that  he  had  never 
once  looked  at  the  Pygmies,  nor  even  knew  that 
there  was  such  a  funny  little  nation  in  the 
world.  And  now,  as  he  had  traveled  a  good 
way,  and  was  also  rather  weary  with  his  exer- 
tions in  the  fight,  he  spread  out  his  lion's  skin 
on  the  ground,  and,  reclining  himself  upon  it, 
fell  fast  asleep. 

As  soon  as  the  Pygmies  saw  Hercules  pre- 
paring for  a  nap,  they  nodded  their  little  heads 
at  one  another,  and  winked  with  their  little 
eyes.  And  when  his  deep,  regular  breathing 
gave  them  notice  that  he  was  asleep,  they 
assembled  together  in  an  immense  crowd, 
spreading  over  a  space  of  about  twenty-seven 
feet  square.  One  of  their  most  eloquent  orators 
(and  a  valiant  warrior  enough,  besides,  though 
hardly  so  good  at  any  other  weapon  as  he  was 
with  his  tongue)  climbed  upon  a  toadstool,  and, 
from  that  elevated  position,  addressed  the 
multitude.  His  sentiments  were  pretty  much 
as  follows;  or,  at  all  events,  something  like 
this  was  probably  the  upshot  of  his  speech: 

"Tall  Pygmies  and  mighty  little  men!  You 
and  all  of  us  have  seen  what  a  public  calamity 
has  been  brought  to  pass,  and  what  an  insult 
has  here  been  offered  to  the  majesty  of  our 
nation.  Yonder  lies  Antaeus,  our  great  friend 


THE  PYGMIES.  Si 

and  brother,  slain,  within  our  territory,  by  a 
miscreant  who  took  him  at  disadvantage,  and 
fought  him  (if  fighting  it  can  be  called)  in  a  way 
that  neither  man,  nor  Giant,  nor  Pygmy  ever 
dreamed  of  fighting,  until  this  hour.  And, 
adding  a  grievous  contumely  to  the  wrong 
already  done  us,  the  miscreant  has  now  fallen 
asleep  as  quietly  as  if  nothing  were  to  be  dreaded 
from  our  wrath!  It  behooves  you,  fellow- 
countrymen,  to  consider  in  what  aspect  we  shall 
stand  before  the  world,  and  what  will  be  the 
verdict  of  impartial  history,  should  we  suffer 
these  accumulated  outrages  to  go  unavenged. 

"  Antaeus  was  our  brother,  born  of  that  same 
beloved  parent  to  whom  we  owe  the  thews  and 
sinews,  as  well  as  the  courageous  hearts,  which 
made  him  proud  of  our  relationship.  He  was 
our  faithful  ally,  and  fell  fighting  as  much  for 
our  national  rights  and  immunities  as  for  his 
own  personal  ones.  We  and  our  forefathers 
have  dwelt  in  friendship  with  him,  and  held 
affectionate  intercourse  as  man  to  man,  through 
immemorial  generations.  You  remember  how 
often  our  entire  people  have  reposed  in  his  great 
shadow,  and  how  our  little  ones  have  played  at 
hide-and-seek  in  the  tangles  of  his  hair,  and 
how  his  mighty  footsteps  have  familiarly  gone 
to  and  fro  among  us,  and  never  trodden  upon 
any  of  our  toes.  And  there  lies  this  dear 
brother — this  sweet  and  amiable  friend — this 


82  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

brave  and  faithful  ally — this  virtuous  Giant — 
this  blameless  and  excellent  Antaeus — dead! 
Dead!  Silent!  Powerless!  A  mere  mountain 
of  clay!  Forgive  my  tears!  Nay,  I  behold 
your  own.  Were  we  to  drown  the  world  with 
them,  could  the  world  blame  us  ? 

"  But  to  resume :  Shall  we,  my  countrymen, 
suffer  this  wicked  stranger  to  depart  unharmed, 
and  triumph  in  his  treacherous  victory,  among 
distant  communities  of  the  earth?  Shall  we 
not  rather  compel  him  to  leave  his  bones  here 
on  our  soil,  by  the  side  of  our  slain  brother's 
bones?  so  that,  while  one  skeleton  shall  remain 
as  the  everlasting  monument  of  our  sorrow,  the 
other  shall  endure  as  long,  exhibiting  to  the 
whole  human  race  a  terrible  example  of  Pygmy 
vengeance!  Such  is  the  question.  I  put  it  to 
you  in  full  confidence  of  a  response  that  shall  be 
worthy  of  our  national  character,  and  calculated 
to  increase,  rather  than  diminish,  the  glory 
which  our  ancestors  have  transmitted  to  us,  and 
which  we  ourselves  have  proudly  vindicated  in 
our  warfare  with  the  cranes." 

The  orator  was  here  interrupted  by  a  burst 
of  irrepressible  enthusiasm;  every  individual 
Pygmy  crying  out  that  the  national  honor 
must  be  preserved  at  all  hazards.  He  bowed, 
and,  making  a  gesture  for  silence,  wound  up  his 
harangue  in  the  following  admirable  manner: 

"It  only  remains   for   us,   then,   to   decide 


THE  PYGMIES.  83 

whether  we  shall  carry  on  the  war  in  our  national 
capacity — one  united  people  against  a  common 
enemy— or  whether  some  champion,  famous  in 
former  fights,  shall  be  selected  to  defy  the 
slayer  of  our  brother  Antaeus  to  single  combat. 
In  the  latter  case,  though  not  unconscious  that 
there  may  be  taller  men  among  you,  I  hereby 
offer  myself  for  that  enviable  duty.  And 
believe  me,  dear  countrymen,  whether  I  live 
or  die,  the  honor  of  this  great  country,  and  the 
fame  bequeathed  us  by  our  heroic  progenitors, 
shall  suffer  no  diminution  in  my  hands.  Never, 
while  I  can  wield  this  sword,  of  which  I  now 
fling  away  the  scabbard — never,  never,  never, 
even  if  the  crimson  hand  that  slew  the  great 
Antaeus  shall  lay  me  prostrate,  like  him,  on  the 
soil  which  I  give  my  life  to  defend." 

So  saying,  this  valiant  Pygmy  drew  out  his 
weapon  '(which  was  terrible  to  behold,  being  as 
long  as  the  blade  of  a  penknife),  and  sent  the 
scabbard  whirling  over  the  heads  of  the  multi- 
tude. His  speech  was  followed  by  an  uproar 
of  applause,  as  its  patriotism  and  self-devotion 
unquestionably  deserved;  and  the  shouts  and 
clapping  of  hands  would  have  been  greatly 
prolonged,  had  they  not  been  rendered  quite 
inaudible  by  a  deep  respiration,  vulgarly  called 
a  snore,  from  the  sleeping  Hercules. 

It  was  finally  decided  that  the  whole  nation 
of  Pygmies  should  set  to  work  to  destroy 


84  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Hercules;  not,  be  it  understood,  from  any 
doubt  that  a  single  champion  would  be  capable 
of  putting  him  to  the  sword,  but  because  he  was 
a  public  enemy,  and  all  were  desirous  of  sharing 
in  the  glory  of  his  defeat.  There  was  a  debate 
whether  the  national  honor  did  not  demand 
that  a  herald  should  be  sent  with  a  trumpet, 
to  stand  over  the  ear  of  Hercules,  and  after 
blowing  a  blast  right  into  it,  to  defy  him  to  the 
combat  by  formal  proclamation.  But  two  or 
three  venerable  and  sagacious  Pygmies,  well 
versed  in  state  affairs,  gave  it  as  their  opinion 
that  war  already  existed,  and  that  it  was  their 
rightful  privilege  to  take  the  enemy  by  surprise. 
Moreover,  if  awakened,  and  allowed  to  get  upon 
his  feet,  Hercules  might  happen  to  do  them  a 
mischief  before  he  could  be  beaten  down  again. 
For,  as  these  sage  counselors  remarked,  the 
stranger's  club  was  really  very  big,  and  had 
rattled  like  a  thunderbolt  against  the  skull  of 
Antaeus.  So  the  Pygmies  resolved  to  set  aside 
all  foolish  punctilios,  and  assail  their  antagonist 
at  once. 

Accordingly,  all  the  fighting  men  of  the  nation 
took  their  weapons,  and  went  boldly  up  to 
Hercules,  who  still  lay  fast  asleep,  little  dream- 
ing of  the  harm  which  the  Pygmies  meant  to  do 
him.  A  body  of  twenty  thousand  archers 
marched  in  front,  with  their  little  bows  all 
ready,  and  the  arrows  on  the  string.  The  same 


The  enemy's  breath  rushed  out  of  his  nose  in  an  obstreperous  hurri- 
cane and  whirlwind 


THE  PYGMIES.  85 

number  were  ordered  to  clamber  upon  Hercules, 
some  with  spades  to  dig  his  eyes  out,  and  others 
with  bundles  of  hay,  and  all  manner  of  rubbish 
with  which  they  intended  to  plug  up  his  mouth 
and  nostrils,  so  that  he  might  perish  for  lack  of 
breath.  These  last,  however,  could  by  no  means 
perform  their  appointed  duty;  inasmuch  as  the 
enemy's  breath  rushed  out  of  his  nose  in  an 
obstreperous  hurricane  and  whirlwind,  which 
blew  the  Pygmies  away  as  fast  as  they  came 
nigh.  It  was  found  necessary,  therefore,  to  hit 
upon  some  other  method  of  carrying  on  the  war. 
After  holding  a  council,  the  captains  ordered 
their  troops  to  collect  sticks,  straws,  dry  weeds, 
and  whatever  combustible  stuff  they  could  find, 
and  make  a  pile  of  it,  heaping  it  high  around  the 
head  of  Hercules.  As  a  great  many  thousand 
Pygmies  were  employed  in  this  task,  they  soon 
brought  together  several  bushels  of  inflamma- 
tory matter,  and  raised  so  tall  a  heap,  that, 
mounting  on  its  summit,  they  were  quite  upon  a 
level  with  the  sleeper's  face.  The  archers, 
meanwhile,  were  stationed  within  bow  shot, 
with  orders  to  let  fly  at  Hercules  the  instant  that 
he  stirred.  Everything  being  in  readiness,  a 
torch  was  applied  to  the  pile,  which  immediately 
burst  into  flames,  and  soon  waxed  hot  enough 
to  roast  the  enemy,  had  he  but  chosen  to  lie 
still.  A  Pygmy,  you  know,  though  so  very 
small,  might  set  the  world  on  fire,  just  as  easily 


86  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

as  a  Giant  could ;  so  that  this  was  certainly  the 
very  best  way  of  dealing  with  their  foe,  pro- 
vided they  could  have  kept  him  quiet  while  the 
conflagration  was  going  forward. 

But  no  sooner  did  Hercules  begin  to  be 
scorched,  than  up  he  started,  with  his  hair  in  a 
red  blaze. 

"What's  all  this?"  he  cried,  bewildered  with 
sleep,  and  staring  about  him  as  if  he  expected  to 
see  another  Giant. 

At  that  moment  the  twenty  thousand  archers 
twanged  their  bowstrings,  and  the  arrows  came 
whizzing,  like  so  many  winged  mosquitoes, 
right  into  the  face  of  Hercules.  But  I  doubt 
whether  more  than  half  a  dozen  of  them  punc- 
tured the  skin,  which  was  remarkably  tough, 
as  you  know  the  skin  of  a  hero  has  good  need 
to  be. 

"Villain!"  shouted  all  the  Pygmies  at  once. 
"You  have  killed  the  Giant  Antaeus,  our  great 
brother,  and  the  ally  of  our  nation.  We  declare 
bloody  war  against  you,  and  will  slay  you  on 
the  spot." 

Surprised  at  the  shrill  piping  of  so  many  little 
voices,  Hercules,  after  putting  out  the  con- 
flagration of  his  hair,  gazed  all  round  about,  but 
could  see  nothing.  At  last,  however,  looking 
narrowly  on  the  ground,  he  espied  the  innumer- 
able assemblage  of  Pygmies  at  his  feet.  He 
stooped  down,  and  taking  up  the  nearest  one 


THE  PYGMIES.  87 

between  his  thumb  and  finger,  set  him  on  the 
palm  of  his  left  hand,  and  held  him  at  a  proper 
distance  for  examination.  It  chanced  to  be 
the  very  identical  Pygmy  who  had  spoken 
from  the  top  of  the  toadstool,  and  had  offered 
himself  as  a  champion  to  meet  Hercules  in 
single  combat. 

"What  in  the  world,  my  little  fellow,"  ejacu- 
lated Hercules,  "  may  you  be? " 

"I  am  your  enemy,"  answered  the  valiant 
Pygmy,  in  his  mightiest  squeak.  "  You  have 
slain  the  enormous  Antaeus,  our  brother  by  the 
mother's  side,  and  for  ages  the  faithful  ally  of 
our  illustrious  nation.  We  are  determined  to 
put  you  to  death;  and  for  my  own  part,  I  chal- 
lenge you  to  instant  battle,  on  equal  ground." 

Hercules  was  so  tickled  with  the  Pygmy's  big 
words  and  warlike  gestures,  that  he  burst  into  a 
great  explosion  of  laughter,  and  almost  dropped 
the  poor  little  mite  of  a  creature  off  the  palm 
of  his  hand,  through  the  ecstasy  and  convulsion 
of  his  merriment. 

"  Upon  my  word,"  cried  he,  "I  thought  I  had 
seen  wonders  before  to-day — hydras  with  nine 
heads,  stags  with  golden  horns,  six-legged  men, 
three-headed  dogs,  giants  with  furnaces  in  their 
stomachs,  and  nobody  knows  what  besides. 
But  here,  on  the  palm  of  my  hand,  stands  a 
wonder  that  outdoes  them  all!  Your  body, 
my  little  friend,  is  about  the  size  of  an 


88  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

ordinary  man's  finger.  Pray,  how  big  may  your 
soul  be?" 

"  As  big  as  your  own! "  said  the  Pygmy. 

Hercules  was  touched  with  the  little  man's 
dauntless  courage,  and  could  not  help  acknowl- 
edging such  a  brotherhood  with  him  as  one 
hero  feels  for  another. 

"My  good  little  people,"  said  he,  making  a 
low  obeisance  to  the  grand  nation,  "  not  for  all 
the  world  would  I  do  an  intentional  injury  to 
such  brave  fellows  as  you!  Your  hearts  seem 
to  me  so  exceedingly  great,  that,  upon  my 
honor,  I  marvel  how  your  small  bodies  can 
contain  them.  I  sue  for  peace,  and,  as  a  con- 
dition of  it,  will  take  five  strides,  and  be  out  of 
your  kingdom  at  the  sixth.  Good-bye.  I  shall 
pick  my  steps  carefully,  for  fear  of  treading  upon 
some  fifty  of  you,  without  knowing  it.  Ha,  ha, 
ha!  Ho,  ho,  ho!  For  once,  Hercules  acknowl- 
edges himself  vanquished." 

Some  writers  say,  that  Hercules  gathered  up 
the  whole  race  of  Pygmies  in  his  lion's  skin,  and 
carried  them  home  to  Greece,  for  the  children  of 
King  Eurystheus  to  play  with.  But  this  is  a 
mistake.  He  left  them,  one  and  all,  within 
their  own  territory,  where,  for  aught  I  can  tell, 
their  descendants  are  alive  to  the  present  day, 
building  their  little  houses,  cultivating  their 
little  fields,  spanking  their  little  children,  waging 
their  little  warfare  with  the  cranes,  doing  their 


THE  PYGMIES.  89 

little  business,  whatever  it  may  be,  and  reading 
their  little  histories  of  ancient  times.  In  those 
histories,  perhaps,  it  stands  recorded,  that,  a 
great  many  centuries  ago,  the  valiant  Pygmies 
avenged  the  death  of  the  Giant  Antaeus  by 
scaring  away  the  mighty  Hercules. 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH. 

Cadmus,  Phoenix,  and  Cilix,  the  three  sons  of 
King  Agenor,  and  their  little  sister  Europa  (who 
was  a  very  beautiful  child),  were  at  play  together 
near  the  seashore  in  their  father's  kingdom  of 
Phoenicia.  They  had  rambled  to  some  distance 
from  the  palace  where  their  parents  dwelt,  and 
were  now  in  a  verdant  meadow,  on  one  side  of 
which  lay  the  sea,  all  sparkling  and  dimpling  in 
the  sunshine,  and  murmuring  gently  against  the 
beach.  The  three  boys  were  very  happy, 
gathering  flowers,  and  twining  them  into  gar- 
lands, with  which  they  adorned  the  little  Europa. 
Seated  on  the  grass,  the  child  was  almost  hidden 
under  an  abundance  of  buds  and  blossoms, 
whence  her  rosy  face  peeped  merrily  out,  and, 
as  Cadmus  said,  was  the  prettiest  of  all  the 
flowers. 

Just  then,  there  came  a  splendid  butterfly, 
fluttering  along  the  meadow;  and  Cadmus, 
Phoenix,  and  Cilix  set  off  in  pursuit  of  it,  crying 
out  that  it  was  a  flower  with  wings.  Europa, 
who  was  a  little  wearied  with  playing  all  day 
long,  did  not  chase  the  butterfly  with  her 

90 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  91 

brothers,  but  sat  still  where  they  had  left  her, 
and  closed  her  eyes.  For  a  while,  she  listened 
to  the  pleasant  murmur  of  the  sea,  which  was 
like  a  voice  saying  "  Hush!"  and  bidding  her  go 
to  sleep.  But  the  pretty  child,  if  she  slept  at 
all,  could  not  have  slept  more  than  a  moment, 
when  she  heard  something  trample  on  the  grass, 
not  far  from  her,  and,  peeping  out  from  the  heap 
of  flowers,  beheld  a  snow-white  bull. 

And  whence  could  this  bull  have  come? 
Europa  and  her  brothers  had  been  a  long  time 
playing  in  the  meadow,  and  had  seen  no  cattle, 
nor  other  living  thing,  either  there  or  on  the 
neighboring  hills. 

"Brother  Cadmus!"  cried  Europa,  starting 
up  out  of  the  midst  of  the  roses  and  lilies. 
"Phoenix!  Cilix!  Where  are  you  all?  Help! 
Help !  Come  and  drive  away  this  bull ! ' ' 

But  her  brothers  were  too  far  off  to  hear; 
especially  as  the  fright  took  away  Europa's 
voice,  and  hindered  her  from  calling  very 
loudly.  So  there  she  stood,  with  her  pretty 
mouth  wide  open,  as  pale  as  the  white  lilies  that 
were  twisted  among  the  other  flowers  in  her 
garlands. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  the  suddenness  with 
which  she  had  perceived  the  bull,  rather  than 
anything  frightful  in  his  appearance,  that  caused 
Europa  so  much  alarm.  On  looking  at  him 
more  attentively,  she  began  to  see  that  he  was  a 


92  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

beautiful  animal,  and  even  fancied  a  particu- 
larly amiable  expression  in  his  face.  As  for 
his  breath — the  breath  of  cattle,  you  know,  is 
always  sweet — it  was  as  fragrant  as  if  he  had 
been  grazing  on  no  other  food  than  rosebuds,  or 
at  least,  the  most  delicate  of  clover  blossoms. 
Never  before  did  a  bull  have  such  bright  and 
tender  eyes,  and  such  smooth  horns  of  ivory, 
as  this  one.  And  the  bull  ran  little  races,  and 
capered  sportively  around  the  child;  so  that 
she  quite  forgot  how  big  and  strong  he  was,  and, 
from  the  gentleness  and  playfulness  of  his 
actions,  soon  came  to  consider  him  as  innocent 
a  creature  as  a  pet  lamb. 

Thus,  frightened  as  she  at  first  was,  you  might 
by  and  by  have  seen  Europa  stroking  the  bull's 
forehead  with  her  small  white  hand,  and  taking 
the  garlands  off  her  own  head  to  hang  them  on 
his  neck  and  ivory  horns.  Then  she  pulled  up 
some  blades  of  grass,  and  he  ate  them  out  of  her 
hand,  not  as  if  he  were  hungry,  but  because  he 
wanted  to  be  friends  with  the  child,  and  took 
pleasure  in  eating  what  she  had  touched.  Well, 
my  stars!  was  there  ever  such  a  gentle,  sweet, 
pretty,  and  amiable  creature  as  this  bull,  and 
ever  such  a  nice  playmate  for  a  little  girl  ?. 

When  the  animal  saw  (for  the  bull  had  so 
much  intelligence  that  it  is  really  wonderful  to 
think  of),  when  he  saw  that  Europa  was  no 
longer  afraid  of  him,  he  grew  overjoyed,  and 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  93 

could  hardly  contain  himself  for  delight.  He 
frisked  about  the  meadow,  now  here,  now  there, 
making  sprightly  leaps,  with  as  little  effort  as  a 
bird  expends  in  hopping  from  twig  to  twig. 
Indeed,  his  motion  was  as  light  as  if  he  were 
flying  through  the  air,  and  his  hoofs  seemed 
hardly  to  leave  their  print  in  the  grassy  soil 
over  which  he  trod.  With  his  spotless  hue,  he 
resembled  a  snow  drift,  wafted  along  by  the 
wind.  Once  he  galloped  so  far  away  that 
Europa  feared  lest  she  might  never  see  him 
again;  so,  setting  up  her  childish  voice,  called 
him  back. 

"Come  back,  pretty  creature!"  she  cried. 
"  Here  is  a  nice  clover  blossom." 

And  then  it  was  delightful  to  witness  the 
gratitude  of  this  amiable  bull,  and  how  he  was 
so  full  of  joy  and  thankfulness  that  he  capered 
higher  than  ever.  He  came  running,  and  bowed 
his  head  before  Europa,  as  if  he  knew  her  to  be  a 
king's  daughter,  or  else  recognized  the  impor- 
tant truth  that  a  little  girl  is  everybody's  queen. 
And  not  only  did  the  bull  bend  his  neck,  he 
absolutely  knelt  down  at  her  feet,  and  made 
such  intelligent  nods,  and  other  inviting  gestures, 
that  Europa  understood  what  he  meant  just  as 
well  as  if  he  had  put  it  in  so  many  words. 

"Come,  dear  child,"  was  what  he  wanted  to 
say,  "let  me  give  you  a  ride  on  my  back." 

At  the  first  thought  of  such  a  thing,  Europa 


94  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

drew  back.  But  then  she  considered  in  her 
wise  little  head  that  there  could  be  no  possible 
harm  in  taking  just  one  gallop  on  the  back  of 
this  docile  and  friendly  animal,  who  would 
certainly  set  her  down  the  very  instant  she 
desired  it.  And  how  it  would  surprise  her 
brothers  to  see  her  riding  across  the  green 
meadow!  And  what  merry  times  they  might 
have,  either  taking  turns  for  a  gallop,  or  clamber- 
ing on  the  gentle  creature,  all  four  children 
together,  and  careering  round  the  field  with 
shouts  of  laughter  that  would  be  heard  as  far  off 
as  King  Agenor's  palace! 

"I  think  I  will  do  it,"  said  the  child  to 
herself. 

And,  indeed,  why  not?  She  cast  a  glance 
around,  and  caught  a  glimpse  of  Cadmus, 
Phoenix,  and  Cilix,  who  were  still  in  pursuit  of 
the  butterfly,  almost  at  the  other  end  of  the 
meadow.  It  would  be  the  quickest  way  of 
rejoining  them,  to  get  upon  the  white  bull's 
back.  She  came  a  step  nearer  to  him  therefore ; 
and — sociable  creature  that  he  was — he  showed 
so  much  joy  at  this  mark  of  her  confidence,  that 
the  child  could  not  find  in  her  heart  to  hesitate 
any  longer.  Making  one  bound  (for  this  little 
princess  was  as  active  as  a  squirrel),  there  sat 
Europa  on  the  beautiful  bull,  holding  an  ivory 
horn  in  each  hand,  lest  she  should  fall  off. 

"Softly,  pretty  bull,  softly!"  she  said,  rather 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  95 

frightened  at  what  she  had  done.  "  Do  not 
gallop  too  fast." 

Having  got  the  child  on  his  back,  the  animal 
gave  a  leap  into  the  air,  and  came  down  so  like 
a  feather  that  Europa  did  not  know  when  his 
hoofs  touched  the  ground.  He  then  began  a 
race  to  that  part  of  the  flowery  plain  where 
her  three  brothers  were,  and  where  they  had 
just  caught  their  splendid  butterfly.  Europa 
screamed  with  delight;  and  Phoenix,  Cilix,  and 
Cadmus  stood  gaping  at  the  spectacle  of  their 
sister  mounted  on  a  white  bull,  not  knowing 
whether  to  be  frightened  or  to  wish  the  same 
good  luck  for  themselves.  The  gentle  and 
innocent  creature  (for  who  could  possibly  doubt 
that  he  was  so?)  pranced  round  among  the 
children  as  sportively  as  a  kitten.  Europa  all 
the  while  looked  down  upon  her  brothers, 
nodding  and  laughing,  but  yet  with  a  sort  of 
stateliness  in  her  rosy  little  face.  As  the  bull 
wheeled  about  to  take  another  gallop  across  the 
meadow,  the  child  waved  her  hand,  and  said, 
"Good-bye,"  playfully  pretending  that  she  was 
now  bound  on  a  distant  journey,  and  might  not 
see  her  brothers  again  for  nobody  could  tell 
how  long. 

"Good-bye,"  shouted  Cadmus,  Phcenix,  and 
Cilix,  all  in  one  breath. 

But,  together  with  her  enjoyment  of  the 
sport,  there  was  still  a  little  remnant  of  fear  in 


96  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

the  child's  heart;  so  that  her  last  look  at  the 
three  boys  was  a  troubled  one,  and  made  them 
feel  as  if  their  dear  sister  were  really  leaving 
them  forever.  And  what  do  you  think  the 
snowy  bull  did  next?  Why,  he  set  off,  as  swift 
as  the  wind,  straight  down  to  the  seashore, 
scampered  across  the  sand,  took  an  airy  leap, 
and  plunged  right  in  among  the  foaming  billows. 
The  white  spray  rose  in  a  shower  over  him  and 
little  Europa,  and  fell  spattering  down  upon  the 
water. 

Then  what  a  scream  of  terror  did  the  poor 
child  send  forth!  The  three  brothers  screamed 
manfully,  likewise,  and  ran  to  the  shore  as  fast 
as  their  legs  would  carry  them,  with  Cadmus 
at  their  head.  But  it  was  too  late.  When  they 
reached  the  margin  of  the  sand,  the  treacherous 
animal  was  already  far  away  in  the  wide  blue 
sea,  with  only  his  snowy  head  and  tail  emerging, 
and  poor  little  Europa  between  them,  stretching 
out  one  hand  towards  her  dear  brothers,  while 
she  grasped  the  bull's  ivory  horn  with  the  other. 
And  there  stood  Cadmus,  Phoenix,  and  Cilix, 
gazing  at  this  sad  spectacle,  through  their  tears, 
until  they  could  no  longer  distinguish  the  bull's 
snowy  head  from  the  white-capped  billows  that 
seemed  to  boil  up  out  of  the  sea's  depths  around 
him.  Nothing  more  was  ever  seen  of  the  white 
bull — nothing  more  of  the  beautiful  child. 

This  was  a  mournful  story,  as  you  may  well 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  97 

think,  for  the  three  boys  to  carry  home  to  their 
parents.  King  Agenor,  their  father,  was  the 
ruler  of  the  whole  country;  but  he  loved  his 
little  daughter  Europa  better  than  his  kingdom, 
or  than  all  his  other  children,  or  than  anything 
else  in  the  world.  Therefore,  when  Cadmus  and 
his  two  brothers  came  crying  home,  and  told 
him  how  that  a  white  bull  had  carried  off  their 
sister,  and  swam  with  her  over  the  sea,  the 
king  was  quite  beside  himself  with  grief  and 
rage.  Although  it  was  now  twilight,  and  fast 
growing  dark,  he  bade  them  set  out  instantly 
in  search  of  her. 

"Never  shall  you  see  my  face  again,"  he 
cried,  "unless  you  bring  me  back  my  little 
Europa,  to  gladden  me  with  her  smiles  and  her 
pretty  ways.  Begone,  and  enter  my  presence 
no  more,  till  you  come  leading  her  by  the  hand." 

As  King  Agenor  said  this,  his  eyes  flashed 
fire  (for  he  was  a  very  passionate  king),  and  he 
looked  so  terribly  angry  that  the  poor  boys  did 
not  even  venture  to  ask  for  their  suppers,  but 
slunk  away  out  of  the  palace,  and  only  paused 
on  the  steps  a  moment  to  consult  whither  they 
should  go  first.  While  they  were  standing 
there,  all  in  dismay,  their  mother,  Queen 
Telephassa  (who  happened  not  to  be  by  when 
they  told  the  story  to  the  king),  came  hurrying 
after  them,  and  said  that  she  too  would  go  in 
quest  of  her  daughter. 


98  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"O,  no,  mother!"  cried  the  boys.  "The 
night  is  dark,  and  there  is  no  knowing  what 
troubles  and  perils  we  may  meet  with." 

"Alas!  my  dear  children,"  answered  poor 
Queen  Telephassa;  weeping  bitterly,  "that  is 
only  another  reason  why  I  should  go  with  you. 
If  I  should  lose  you,  too,  as  well  as  my  little 
Europa,  what  would  become  of  me ! " 

"And  let  me  go  likewise!"  said  their 
playfellow  Thasus,  who  came  running  to  join 
them. 

Thasus  was  the  son  of  a  seafaring  person  in 
the  neighborhood;  he  had  been  brought  up 
with  the  young  princes,  and  was  their  intimate 
friend,  and  loved  Europa  very  much;  so  they 
consented  that  he  should  accompany  them. 
The  whole  party,  therefore,  set  forth  together. 
Cadmus,  Phoenix,  Cilix,  and  Thasus  clustered 
round  Queen  Telephassa,  grasping  her  skirts, 
and  begging  her  to  lean  upon  their  shoulders 
whenever  she  felt  weary.  In  this  manner  they 
went  down  the  palace  steps,  and  began  a  jour- 
ney, which  turned  out  to  be  a  great  deal  longer 
than  they  dreamed  of.  The  last  that  they  saw 
of  King  Agenor,  he  came  to  the  door,  with  a 
servant  holding  a  torch  beside  him,  and  called 
after  them  into  the  gathering  darkness: 

"Remember!  Never  ascend  these  steps  again 
without  the  child!" 

"Never!"    sobbed    Queen    Telephassa;    and 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  99 

the  three  brothers  and  Thasus  answered,  "  Never! 
' '  Never !  Never !  Never ! ' ' 

And  they  kept  their  word.  Year  after  year, 
King  Agenor  sat  in  the  solitude  of  his  beautiful 
palace,  listening  in  vain  for  their  returning 
footsteps,  hoping  to  hear  the  familiar  voice  of  the 
queen,  and  the  cheerful  talk  of  his  sons  and 
their  playfellow  Thasus,  entering  the  door 
together,  and  the  sweet,  childish  accents  of 
little  Europa  in  the  midst  of  them.  But  so 
long  a  time  went  by,  that,  at  last,  if  they  had 
really  come,  the  king  would  not  have  known 
that  this  was  the  voice  of  Telephassa,  and  these 
the  younger  voices  that  used  to  make  such 
joyful  echoes,  when  the  children  were  playing 
about  the  palace.  We  must  now  leave  King 
Agenor  to  sit  on  his  throne,  and  must  go  along 
with  Queen  Telephassa,  and  her  four  youthful 
companions. 

They  went  on  and  on,  and  traveled  a  long 
way,  and  passed  over  mountains  and  rivers, 
and  sailed  over  seas.  Here,  and  there,  and 
everywhere,  they  made  continual  inquiry  if  any 
person  could  tell  them  what  had  become  of 
Europa.  The  rustic  people,  of  whom  they  asked 
this  question,  paused  a  little  while  from  their 
labors  in  the  field,  and  looked  very  much 
surprised.  They  thought  it  strange  to  behold 
a  woman  in  the  garb  of  a  queen  (for  Telephassa 
in  her  haste  had  forgotten  to  take  off  her  crown 


ioo  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

and  her  royal  robes),  roaming  about  the  country, 
with  four  lads  around  her,  on  such  an  errand 
as  this  seemed  to  be.  But  nobody  could  give 
them  any  tidings  of  Europa;  nobody  had  seen 
a  little  girl  dressed  like  a  princess,  and  mounted 
on  a  snow-white  bull,  which  galloped  as  swiftly 
as  the  wind. 

I  cannot  tell  you  how  long  Queen  Telephassa, 
and  Cadmus,  Phoenix,  and  Cilix,  her  three  sons, 
and  Thasus,  their  playfellow,  went  wandering 
along  the  highways  and  bypaths,  or  through 
the  pathless  wildernesses  of  the  earth,  in  this 
manner.  But  certain  it  is,  that,  before  they 
reached  any  place  of  rest,  their  splendid  gar- 
ments were  quite  worn  out.  They  all  looked 
very  much  travel-stained,  and  would  have  had 
the  dust  of  many  countries  on  their  shoes,  if 
the  streams,  through  which  they  waded,  had  not 
washed  it  all  away.  When  they  had  been  gone 
a  year,  Telephassa  threw  away  her  crown, 
because  it  chafed  her  forehead. 

"  It  has  given  me  many  a  headache,"  said  the 
poor  queen,  "  and  it  cannot  cure  my  heartache." 

As  fast  as  their  princely  robes  got  torn  and 
tattered,  they  exchanged  them  for  such  mean 
attire  as  ordinary  people  wore.  By  and  by, 
they  come  to  have  a  wild  and  homeless  aspect; 
so  that  you  would  much  sooner  have  taken 
them  for  a  gypsy  family  than  a  queen  and  three 
princes,  and  a  young  nobleman,  who  had  once 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  101 

a  palace  for  a  home,  and  a  train  of  serv- 
ants to  do  their  bidding.  The  four  boys 
grew  up  to  be  tall  young  men,  with  sunburnt 
faces.  Each  of  them  girded  on  a  sword,  to 
defend  themselves  against  the  perils  of  the 
way.  When  the  husbandmen,  at  whose  farm- 
houses they  sought  hospitality,  needed  their 
assistance  in  the  harvest  field,  they  gave  it 
willingly;  and  Queen  Telephassa  (who  had 
done  no  work  in  her  palace,  save  to  braid 
silk  threads  with  golden  ones)  came  behind 
them  to  bind  the  sheaves.  If  payment  was 
offered,  they  shook  their  heads,  and  only  asked 
for  tidings  of  Europa. 

"There  are  bulls  enough  in  my  pasture,"  the 
old  farmers  would  reply;  "but  I  never  heard 
of  one  like  this  you  tell  me  of.  A  snow-white 
bull  with  a  little  princess  on  his  back!  Ho! 
ho!  I  ask  your  pardon,  good  folks;  but  there 
never  such  a  sight  seen  hereabouts." 

At  last,  when  his  upper  lip  began  to  have  the 
down  on  it,  Phoenix  grew  weary  of  rambling 
hither  and  thither  to  no  purpose.  So  one  day, 
when  they  happened  to  be  passing  through  a 
pleasant  and  solitary  tract  of  country,  he  sat 
himself  down  on  a  heap  of  moss. 

"  I  can  go  no  farther,"  said  Phoenix.  "  It  is  a 
mere  foolish  waste  of  life,  to  spend  it  as  we  do, 
in  always  wandering  up  and  down,  and  never 
coming  to  any  home  at  nightfall.  Our  sister  is 


102  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

lost,  and  never  will  be  found.  She  probably 
perished  in  the  sea;  or,  to  whatever  shore  the 
white  bull  may  have  carried  her,  it  is  now  so 
many  years  ago,  that  there  would  be  neither 
love  nor  acquaintance  between  us,  should  we 
meet  again.  My  father  has  forbidden  us  to 
return  to  his  palace,  so  I  shall  build  me  a  hut 
of  branches,  and  dwell  here." 

"Well,  son  Phoenix,"  said  Telephassa,  sorrow- 
fully, "you  have  grown  to  be  a  man,  and  must 
do  as  you  judge  best.  But,  for  my  part,  I  will 
still  go  in  quest  of  my  poor  child." 

"  And  we  three  will  go  along  with  you! "  cried 
Cadmus  and  Cilix,  and  their  faithful  friend 
Thasus. 

But,  before  setting  out,  they  all  helped 
Phoenix  to  build  a  habitation.  When  com- 
pleted, it  was  a  sweet  rural  bower,  roofed  over- 
head with  an  arch  of  living  boughs.  Inside 
there  were  two  pleasant  rooms,  one  of  which 
had  a  soft  heap  of  moss  for  a  bed,  while  the 
other  was  furnished  with  a  rustic  seat  or  two, 
curiously  fashioned  out  of  the  crooked  roots  of 
trees.  So  comfortable  and  home-like  did  it 
seem,  that  Telephassa  and  her  three  companions 
could  not  help  sighing,  to  think  that  they  must 
still  roam  about  the  world,  instead  of  spending 
the  remainder  of  their  lives  in  some  such  cheerful 
abode  as  they  had  here  built  for  Phoenix.  But, 
when  they  bade  him  farewell,  Phoenix  shed  tears, 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  103 

and  probably  regretted  that  he  was  no  longer  to 
keep  them  company. 

However,  he  had  fixed  upon  an  admirable 
place  to  dwell  in.  And  by  and  by  there  came 
other  people,  who  chanced  to  have  no  homes; 
and,  seeing  how  pleasant  a  spot  it  was,  they 
built  themselves  huts  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Phoenix's  habitation.  Thus,  before  many  years 
went  by,  a  city  had  grown  up  there,  in  the  center 
of  which  was  seen  a  stately  palace  of  marble, 
wherein  dwelt  Phoenix,  clothed  in  a  purple  robe, 
and  wearing  a  golden  crown  upon  his  head. 
For  the  inhabitants  of  the  new  city,  finding  that 
he  had  royal  blood  in  his  veins,  had  chosen 
him  to  be  their  king.  The  very  first  decree  of 
state  which  King  Phoenix  issued  was,  that,  if  a 
maiden  happened  to  arrive  in  the  kingdom, 
mounted  on  a  snow-white  bull,  and  calling  her- 
self Europa,  his  subjects  should  treat  her  with 
the  greatest  kindness  and  respect,  and  immedi- 
ately bring  her  to  the  palace.  You  may  see, 
by  this,  that  Phoenix's  conscience  never  quite 
ceased  to  trouble  him,  for  giving  up  the  quest  of 
his  dear  sister,  and  sitting  himself  down  to  be 
comfortable,  while  his  mother  and  her  com- 
panions went  onward. 

But  often  and  often,  at  the  close  of  a  weary 
day's  journey,  did  Telephassa  and  Cadmus,  Cilix, 
and  Thasus,  remember  the  pleasant  spot  in 
which  they  had  left  Phcenix.  It  was  a  sorrowful 


io4  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

prospect  for  these  wanderers,  that  on  the  morrow 
they  must  again  set  forth,  and  that,  after  many 
nightfalls,  thay  would  perhaps  be  no  nearer  the 
close  of  their  toilsome  pilgrimage  than  now. 
These  thoughts  made  them  all  melancholy  at 
times,  but  appeared  to  torment  Cilix  more  than 
the  rest  of  the  party.  At  length,  one  morning, 
when  they  were  taking  their  staffs  in  hand  to 
set  out,  he  thus  addressed  them : 

"My  dear  mother,  and  you,  good  brother 
Cadmus,  and  my  friend  Thasus,  methinks  we  are 
like  people  in  a  dream.  There  is  no  substance  in 
the  life  which  we  are  leading.  It  is  such  a 
dreary  length  of  time  since  the  white  bull  carried 
off  my  sister  Europa,  that  I  have  quite  forgotten 
how  she  looked,  and  the  tones  of  her  voice, 
and,  indeed,  almost  doubt  whether  such  a  little 
girl  ever  lived  in  the  world.  And  whether  she 
once  lived  or  no,  I  am  convinced  that  she  no 
longer  survives,  and  that  therefore  it  is  the 
merest  folly  to  waste  our  own  lives  and  happi- 
ness in  seeking  her.  Were  we  to  find  her,  she 
would  now  be  a  woman  grown,  and  would  look 
upon  us  all  as  strangers.  So,  to  tell  you  the 
truth,  I  have  resolved  to  take  up  my  abode 
here;  and  I  entreat  you,  mother,  brother,  and 
friend,  to  follow  my  example." 

"Not  I,  for  one,"  said  Telephassa;  although 
the  poor  queen,  firmly  as  she  spoke,  was  so 
travel-worn  that  she  could  hardly  put  her  foot 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  105 

to  the  ground.  "  Not  I,  for  one !  In  the  depths 
of  my  heart,  little  Europa  is  still  the  rosy  child 
who  ran  to  gather  flowers  so  many  years  ago. 
She  has  not  grown  to  womanhood,  nor  forgotten 
me.  At  noon,  at  night,  journeying  onward, 
sitting  down  to  rest,  her  childish  voice  is  always 
in  my  ears,  calling,  'Mother!  mother!'  Stop 
here  who  may,  there  is  no  repose  for  me." 

"Nor  for  me,"  said  Cadmus,  "while  my  dear 
mother  pleases  to  go  onward." 

And  the  faithful  Thasus,  too,  was  resolved  to 
bear  them  company.  They  remained  with  Cilix 
a  few  days,  however,  and  helped  him  to  build  a 
rustic  bower,  resembling  the  one  which  they 
had  formerly  built  for  Phoenix. 

When  they  were  bidding  him  farewell  Cilix 
burst  into  tears,  and  told  his  mother  that  it 
seemed  just  as  melancholy  a  dream  to  stay 
there,  in  solitude,  as  to  go  onward.  If  she  really 
believed  that  they  would  ever  find  Europa,  he- 
was  willing  to  continue  the  search  with  them, 
even  now.  But  Telephassa  bade  him  remain 
there,  and  be  happy,  if  his  own  heart  would  let 
him.  So  the  pilgrims  took  their  leave  of  him, 
and  departed,  and  were  hardly  out  of  sight  before 
some  other  wandering  people  came  along  that 
way,  and  saw  Cilix's  habitation,  and  were  greatly 
delighted  with  the  appearance  of  the  place. 
There  being  abundance  of  unoccupied  ground  in 
the  neighborhood,  these  strangers  built  huts 


io6  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

for  themselves,  and  were  soon  joined  by  a  multi- 
tude of  new  settlers,  who  quickly  formed  a  city. 
In  the  middle  of  it  was  seen  a  magnificent  palace 
of  colored  marble,  on  the  balcony  of  which, 
every  noontide,  appeared  Cilix,  in  a  long  purple 
robe,  and  with  a  jeweled  crown  upon  his  head; 
for  the  inhabitants,  when  they  found  out  that 
he  was  a  king's  son,  had  considered  him  the 
fittest  of  all  men  to  be  a  king  himself. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  King  Cilix's  govern- 
ment was  to  send  out  an  expedition,  consisting 
of  a  grave  ambassador,  and  an  escort  of  bold 
and  hardy  young  men,  with  orders  to  visit  the 
principal  kingdoms  of  the  earth,  and  inquire 
whether  a  young  maiden  had  passed  through 
those  regions,  galloping  swiftly  on  a  white  bull. 
It  is,  therefore,  plain  to  my  mind,  that  Cilix 
secretly  blamed  himself  for  giving  up  the  search 
for  Europa,  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  put  one 
foot  before  the  other. 

As  for  Telephassa,  and  Cadmus,  and  the  good 
Thasus,  it  grieves  me  to  think  of  them,  still 
keeping  up  that  weary  pilgrimage.  The  two 
young  men  did  their  best  for  the  poor  queen, 
helping  her  over  the  rough  places,  often  carrying 
her  across  rivulets  in  their  faithful  arms  and 
seeking  to  shelter  her  at  nightfall,  even  when 
they  themselves  lay  on  the  ground.  Sad,  sad  it 
was  to  hear  them  asking  of  every  passer-by 
if  he  had  seen  Europa,  so  long  after  the  white 


//  grieves  me  to  think  of  them,  still  keeping  up  that  weary  pilgrimage 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  107 

bull  had  carried  her  away.  But,  though  the 
gray  years  thrust  themselves  between,  and  made 
the  child's  figure  dim  in  their  remembrance, 
neither  of  these  true-hearted  three  ever  dreamed 
of  giving  up  the  search. 

One  morning,  however,  poor  Thasus  found 
that  he  had  sprained  his  ankle,  and  could  not 
possibly  go  a  step  farther. 

"After  a  few  days,  to  be  sure,"  said  he, 
mournfully,  "  I  might  make  shift  to  hobble  along 
with  a  stick.  But  that  would  only  delay  you, 
and  perhaps  hinder  you  from  finding  dear  little 
Europa,  after  all  your  pains  and  trouble.  Do 
you  go  forward,  therefore,  my  beloved  com- 
panions, and  leave  me  to  follow  as  I  may." 

"Thou  hast  been  a  true  friend,  dear  Thasus," 
said  Queen  Telephassa,  kissing  his  forehead. 
"  Being  neither  my  son,  nor  the  brother  of  our 
lost  Europa,  thou  hast  shown  thyself  truer  to  me 
and  her  than  Phoenix  and  Cilix  did,  whom  we 
have  left  behind  us.  Without  thy  loving  help, 
and  that  of  my  son  Cadmus,  my  limbs  could  not 
have  borne  me  half  so  far  as  this.  Now,  take  thy 
rest,  and  be  at  peace.  For — and  it  is  the  first 
time  I  have  owned  it  to  myself — I  begin  to 
question  whether  we  shall  ever  find  my  beloved 
daughter  in  this  world." 

Saying  this,  the  poor  queen  shed  tears, 
because  it  was  a  grievous  trial  to  the  mother's 
heart  to  confess  that  her  hopes  were  growing 


io8  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

faint.  From  that  day  forward,  Cadmus  noticed 
that  she  never  traveled  with  the  same  alacrity 
of  spirit  that  had  heretofore  supported  her. 
Her  weight  was  heavier  upon  his  arm. 

Before  setting  out,  Cadmus  helped  Thasus 
build  a  bower;  while  Telephassa,  being  too 
infirm  to  give  any  great  assistance,  advised 
them  how  to  fit  it  up  and  furnish  it,  so  that  it 
might  be  as  comfortable  as  a  hut  of  branches 
could.  Thasus,  however,  did  not  spend  all  his 
days  in  this  green  bower.  For  it  happened  to 
him,  as  to  Phcenix  and  Cilix,  that  other  home- 
less people  visited  the  spot,  and  liked  it,  and 
built  themselves  habitations  in  the  neighbor- 
hood. So  here,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years, 
was  another  thriving  city,  with  a  red  freestone 
palace  in  the  center  of  it,  where  Thasus  sat  upon 
a  throne,  doing  justice  to  the  people,  with  a 
purple  robe  over  his  shoulders,  a  sceptre  in  his 
hand,  and  a  crown  upon  his  head.  The  inhabi- 
tants had  made  him  king,  not  for  the  sake  of 
any  royal  blood  (for  none  was  in  his  veins),  but 
because  Thasus  was  an  upright,  true-hearted, 
and  courageous  man,  and  therefore  fit  to  rule. 

But  when  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom  were  all 
settled,  King  Thasus  laid  aside  his  purple  robe 
and  crown,  and  sceptre,  and  bade  his  worthiest 
subjects  distribute  justice  to  the  people  in  his 
stead.  Then,  grasping  the  pilgrim's  staff  that 
had  supported  him  so  long,  he  set  forth  again, 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  109 

hoping  still  to  discover  some  hoof -mark  of  the 
snow-white  bull,  some  trace  of  the  vanished 
child.  He  returned  after  a  lengthened  absence, 
and  sat  down  wearily  upon  his  throne.  To  his 
latest  hour,  nevertheless,  King  Thasus  showed 
his  true-hearted  remembrance  of  Europa,  by 
ordering  that  a  fire  should  always  be  kept  burn- 
ing in  his  palace,  and  a  bath  steaming  hot,  and 
food  ready  to  be  served  up,  and  a  bed  with 
snow-white  sheets,  in  case  the  maiden  should 
arrive,  and  require  immediate  refreshment. 
And,  though  Europa  never  came,  the  good 
Thasus  had  the  blessings  of  many  a  poor 
traveler,  who  profited  by  the  food  and  lodging 
which  were  meant  for  the  little  playmate  of  the 
king's  boyhood. 

Telephassa  and  Cadmus  were  now  pursuing 
their  weary  way,  with  no  companion  but  each 
other.  The  queen  leaned  heavily  upon  her 
son's  arm,  and  could  walk  only  a  few  miles  a  day. 
But  for  all  her  weakness  and  weariness,  she 
would  not  be  persuaded  to  give  up  the  search. 
It  was  enough  to  bring  tears  into  the  eyes  of 
bearded  men  to  hear  the  melancholy  tone  with 
which  she  inquired  of  every  stranger  whether  he 
could  not  tell  her  any  news  of  the  lost  child. 

"  Have  you  seen  a  little  girl — no,  no,  I  mean  a 
young  maiden  of  full  growth — passing  by  this 
way,  mounted  on  a  snow-white  bull,  which 
gallops  as  swiftly  as  the  wind? " 


no  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"We  have  seen  no  such  wondrous  sight,"  the 
people  would  reply;  and  very  often,  taking 
Cadmus  aside,  they  whispered  to  him,  "  Is  this 
stately  and  sad-looking  woman  your  mother? 
Surely  she  is  not  in  her  right  mind;  and  you 
ought  to  take  her  home,  and  make  her  comfort- 
able, and  do  your  best  to  get  this  dream  out  of 
her  fancy." 

"It  is  no  dream,"  said  Cadmus.  "Every- 
thing else  is  a  dream,  save  that." 

But,  one  day,  Telephassa  seemed  feebler 
than  usual,  and  leaned  almost  her  whole  weight 
on  the  arm  of  Cadmus,  and  walked  more  slowly 
than  ever  before.  At  last  they  reached  a  solitary 
spot,  where  she  told  her  son  that  she  must 
needs  lie  down,  and  take  a  good  long  rest. 

"A  good  long  rest!"  she  repeated,  looking 
Cadmus  tenderly  in  the  face.  "A  good  long 
rest,  thou  dearest  one!" 

"As  long  as  you  please,  dear  mother," 
answered  Cadmus. 

Telephassa  bade  him  sit  down  on  the  turf 
beside  her,  and  then  she  took  his  hand. 

"  My  son,"  said  she,  fixing  her  dim  eyes  most 
lovingly  upon  him,  "this  rest  that  I  speak  of 
will  be  very  long  indeed!  You  must  not  wait 
till  it  is  finished.  Dear  Cadmus,  you  do  not 
comprehend  me.  You  must  make  a  grave  here, 
and  lay  your  mother's  weary  frame  into  it.  My 
pilgrimage  is  over." 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  in 

Cadmus  burst  into  tears,  and,  for  a  long  time, 
refused  to  believe  that  his  dear  mother  was  now 
to  be  taken  from  him.  But  Telephassa  reasoned 
with  him,  and  kissed  him,  and  at  length  made 
him  discern  that  it  was  better  for  her  spirit  to 
pass  away  out  of  the  toil,  the  weariness,  and 
grief,  and  disappointment  which  had  burdened 
her  on  earth,  ever  since  the  child  was  lost.  He 
therefore  repressed  his  sorrow,  and  listened  to 
her  last  words. 

"  Dearest  Cadmus,"  said  she,  "  thou  hast  been 
the  truest  son  that  ever  mother  had,  and  faithful 
to  the  very  last.  Who  else  would  have  borne 
with  my  infirmities  as  thou  hast!  It  is  owing 
to  thy  care,  thou  tenderest  child,  that  my  grave 
was  not  dug  long  years  ago,  in  some  valley,  or 
on  some  hillside,  that  lies  far,  far  behind  us. 
It  is  enough.  Thou  shalt  wander  no  more  on 
this  hopeless  search.  But,  when  thou  hast  laid 
thy  mother  in  the  earth,  then  go,  my  son,  to 
Delphi,  and  inquire  of  the  oracle  what  thou  shalt 
do  next." 

"O  mother,  mother,"  cried  Cadmus,  "couldst 
thou  but  have  seen  my  sister  before  this  hour!" 

"  It  matters  little  now,"  answered  Telephassa, 
and  there  was  a  smile  upon  her  face.  "  I  go  now 
to  the  better  world,  and,  sooner  or  later,  shall 
find  my  daughter  there." 

I  will  not  sadden  you,  my  little  hearers,  with 
telling  how  Telephassa  died  and  was  buried,  but 


ii2  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

will  only  say,  that  her  dying  smile  grew  brighter, 
instead  of  vanishing  from  her  dead  face;  so 
that  Cadmus  left  convinced  that,  at  her  very 
first  step  into  the  better  world,  she  had  caught 
Europa  in  her  arms.  He  planted  some  flowers 
on  his  mother's  grave,  and  left  them  to  grow 
there,  and  make  the  place  beautiful,  when  he 
should  be  far  away. 

After  performing  this  last  sorrowful  duty,  he 
set  forth  alone,  and  took  the  road  towards  the 
famous  oracle  of  Delphi,  as  Telephassa  had 
advised  him.  On  his  way  thither,  he  still 
inquired  of  most  people  whom  he  met  whether 
they  had  seen  Europa;  for,  to  say  the  truth, 
Cadmus  had  grown  so  accustomed  to  ask  the 
question,  that  it  came  to  his  lips  as  readily  as  a 
remark  about  the  weather.  He  received  various 
answers.  Some  told  him  one  thing,  and  some 
another.  Among  the  rest,  a  mariner  affirmed, 
that,  many  years  before,  in  a  distant  country, 
he  had  heard  a  rumor  about  a  white  bull,  which 
came  swimming  across  the  sea  with  a  child  on 
his  back,  dressed  up  in  flowers  that  were  blighted 
by  the  sea  water.  He  did  not  know  what  had 
become  of  the  child  or  the  bull;  and  Cadmus 
suspected,  indeed,  by  a  queer  twinkle  in  the 
mariner's  eyes,  that  he  was  putting  a  joke  upon 
him,  and  had  never  really  heard  anything  about 
the  matter. 

Poor  Cadmus  found  it  more  wearisome  to 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  113 

travel  alone  than  to  bear  all  his  dear  mother's 
weight,  while  she  had  kept  him  company.  His 
heart,  you  will  understand,  was  now  so  heavy 
that  it  seemed  impossible,  sometimes,  to  carry  it 
any  farther.  But  his  limbs  were  strong  and 
active,  and  well  accustomed  to  exercise.  He 
walked  swiftly  along,  thinking  of  King  Agenor 
and  Queen  Telephassa,  and  his  brothers,  and  the 
friendly  Thasus,  all  of  whom  he  had  left  behind 
him,  at  one  point  of  his  pilgrimage  or  another, 
and  never  expected  to  see  them  any  more. 
Full  of  these  remembrances,  he  came  within 
sight  of  a  lofty  mountain,  which  the  people 
thereabouts  told  him  was  called  Parnassus. 
On  the  slope  of  Mount  Parnassus  was  the  famous 
Delphi,  whither  Cadmus  was  going. 

This  Delphi  was  supposed  to  be  the  very 
midmost  spot  of  the  whole  world.  The  place  of 
the  oracle  was  a  certain  cavity  in  the  mountain 
side,  over  which,  when  Cadmus  came  thither, 
he  found  a  rude  bower  of  branches.  It  reminded 
him  of  those  which  he  had  helped  to  build  for 
Phoenix  and  Cilix,  and  afterwards  for  Thasus. 
In  later  times,  when  multitudes  of  people 
came  from  great  distances  to  put  ques- 
tions to  the  oracle,  a  spacious  temple  of 
marble  was  erected  over  the  spot.  But  in  the 
days  of  Cadmus,  as  I  have  told  you,  there  was 
only  this  rustic  bower,  with  its  abundance  of 
green  foliage,  and  a  tuft  of  shrubbery,  that 


ii4  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

ran  wild  over  the  mysterious  hole  in  the  hill- 
side. 

When  Cadmus  had  thrust  a  passage  through 
the  tangled  boughs,  and  made  his  way  into  the 
bower,  he  did  not  at  first  discern  the  half -hidden 
cavity.  But  soon  he  felt  a  cold  stream  of  air 
rushing  out  of  it,  with  so  much  force  that  it 
shook  the  ringlets  on  his  cheek.  Pulling  away 
the  shrubbery  which  clustered  over  the  hole, 
he  bent  forward,  and  spoke  in  a  distinct  but 
reverential  tone,  as  if  addressing  some  unseen 
personage  inside  of  the  mountain. 

"Sacred  oracle  of  Delphi,"  said  he,  "whither 
shall  I  go  next  in  quest  of  my  dear  sister 
Europa?" 

There  was  at  first  a  deep  silence,  and  then  a 
rushing  sound,  or  a  noise  like  a  long  sigh,  pro- 
ceeding out  of  the  interior  of  the  earth.  This 
cavity,  you  must  know,  was  looked  upon  as  a 
sort  of  fountain  of  truth,  which  sometimes 
gushed  out  in  audible  words;  although,  for 
the  most  part,  these  words  were  such  a  riddle 
that  they  might  just  as  well  have  staid  at 
the  bottom  of  the  hole.  But  Cadmus  was 
more  fortunate  than  many  others  who  went  to 
Delphi  in  search  of  truth.  By  and  by,  the 
rushing  noise  began  to  sound  like  articulate 
language.  It  repeated,  over  and  over  again, 
the  following  sentence,  which,  after  all,  was 
so  like  the  vague  whistle  of  a  blast  of  air,  that 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  115 

Cadmus  really  did  not  quite  know  whether  it 
meant  anything  or  not: 

"Seek  her  no  more!  Seek  her  no  more! 
Seek  her  no  more!" 

"What,  then,   shall  I  do?"  asked  Cadmus. 

For,  ever  since  he  was  a  child,  you  know, 
it  had  been  the  great  object  of  his  life  to  find 
his  sister.  From  the  very  hour  that  he  left 
following  the  butterfly  in  the  meadow,  near  his 
father's  palace,  he  had  done  his  best  to  follow 
Europa,  over  land  and  sea.  And  now,  if  he 
must  give  up  the  search,  he  seemed  to  have  no 
more  business  in  the  world. 

But  again  the  sighing  gust  of  air  grew  into 
something  like  a  hoarse  voice. 

"Follow  the  cow!"  it  said.  "Follow  the 
cow!  Follow  the  cow!" 

And  when  these  words  had  been  repeated 
until  Cadmus  was  tired  of  hearing  them  (espe- 
cially as  he  could  not  imagine  what  cow  it  was, 
or  why  he  was  to  follow  her),  the  gusty  hole 
gave  vent  to  another  sentence. 

"Where  the  stray  cow  lies  down,  there  is 
your  home." 

These  words  were  pronounced  but  a  single 
time,  and  died  away  into  a  whisper  before  Cad- 
mus was  fully  satisfied  that  he  had  caught 
the  meaning.  He  put  other  questions,  but  re- 
ceived no  answer;  only  the  gust  of  wind  sighed 
continually  out  of  the  cavity,  and  blew  the 


n6  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

withered  leaves  rustling  along  the  ground  be- 
fore it. 

"  Did  there  really  come  any  words  out  of  the 
hole?"  thought  Cadmus;  "or  have  I  been 
dreaming  all  this  while?" 

He  turned  away  from  the  oracle,  and  thought 
himself  no  wiser  than  when  he  came  thither. 
Caring  little  what  might  happen  to  him,  he  took 
the  first  path  that  offered  itself,  and  went 
along  at  a  sluggish  pace;  for,  having  no  object 
in  view,  nor  any  reason  to  go  one  way  more 
than  another,  it  would  certainly  have  been 
foolish  to  make  haste.  Whenever  he  met 
anybody,  the  old  question  was  at  his  tongue's 
end. 

"  Have  you  seen  a  beautiful  maiden,  dressed 
like  a  king's  daughter,  and  mounted  on  a 
snow-white  bull,  that  gallops  as  swiftly  as  the 
wind?" 

But,  remembering  what  the  oracle  had  said, 
he  only  half  uttered  the  words,  and  then  mum- 
bled the  rest  indistinctly ;  and  from  his  confusion, 
people  must  have  imagined  that  this  handsome 
young  man  had  lost  his  wits. 

I  know  not  how  far  Cadmus  had  gone,  nor 
could  he  himself  have  told  you,  when  at  no 
great  distance  before  him,  he  beheld  a  brindled 
cow.  She  was  lying  down  by  the  wayside,  and 
quietly  chewing  her  cud;  nor  did  she  take  any 
notice  of  the  young  man  until  he  had  approached 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  117 

pretty  nigh.  Then,  getting  leisurely  upon  her 
feet,  and  giving  her  head  a  gentle  toss,  she  began 
to  move  along  at  a  moderate  pace,  often  pausing 
just  long  enough  to  crop  a  mouthful  of  grass. 
Cadmus  loitered  behind,  whistling  idly  to  him- 
self, and  scarcely  noticing  the  cow;  until  the 
thought  occurred  to  him,  whether  this  could 
possibly  be  the  animal  which,  according  to  the 
oracle's  response,  was  to  serve  him  for  a  guide. 
But  he  smiled  at  himself  for  fancying  such  a 
thing.  He  could  not  seriously  think  that  this 
was  the  cow,  because  she  went  along  so  quietly, 
behaving  just  like  any  other  cow.  Evidently 
she  neither  knew  nor  cared  so  much  as  a  wisp 
of  hay  about  Cadmus,  and  was  only  thinking 
how  to  get  her  living  along  the  wayside,  where 
the  herbage  was  green  and  fresh.  Perhaps 
she  was  going  home  to  be  milked. 

"Cow,  cow,  cow!"  cried  Cadmus.  "Hey, 
Brindle,  hey!  Stop,  my  good  cow!" 

He  wanted  to  come  up  with  the  cow,  so  as  to 
examine  her,  and  see  if  she  would  appear  to 
know  him,  or  whether  there  were  any  pecu- 
liarities to  distinguish  her  from  a  thousand  other 
cows,  whose  only  business  is  to  fill  the  milk-pail, 
and  sometimes  kick  it  over.  But  still  the 
brindled  cow  trudged  on,  whisking  her  tail  to 
keep  the  flies  away,  and  taking  as  little  notice 
of  Cadmus  as  she  well  could.  If  he  walked 
slowly,  so  did  the  cow,  and  seized  the  oppor- 


n8  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

tunity  to  graze.  If  he  quickened  his  pace,  the 
cow  went  just  so  much  the  faster;  and  once, 
when  Cadmus  tried  to  catch  her  by  running, 
she  threw  out  her  heels,  stuck  her  tail  straight 
on  end,  and  set  off  at  a  gallop,  looking  as  queerly 
as  cows  generally  do,  while  putting  themselves 
to  their  speed. 

When  Cadmus  saw  that  it  was  impossible  to 
come  up  with  her,  he  walked  on  moderately,  as 
before.  The  cow,  too,  went  leisurely  on,  with- 
out looking  behind.  Wherever  the  grass  was 
greenest,  there  she  nibbled  a  mouthful  or  two. 
Where  a  brook  glistened  brightly  across  the 
path,  there  the  cow  drank,  and  breathed  a  com- 
fortable sigh,  and  drank  again,  and  trudged 
onward  at  the  pace  that  best  suited  herself  and 
Cadmus. 

"I  do  believe,"  thought  Cadmus,  "that  this 
may  be  the  cow  that  was  foretold  me.  If  it  be 
the  one,  I  suppose  she  will  lie  down  somewhere 
hereabouts." 

Whether  it  were  the  oracular  cow  or  some 
other  one,  it  did  not  seem  reasonable  that  she 
should  travel  a  great  way  farther.  So,  when- 
ever they  reached  a  particularly  pleasant  spot 
on  a  breezy  hillside,  or  in  a  sheltered  vale,  or 
flowery  meadow,  on  the  shore  of  a  calm  lake, 
or  along  the  bank  of  a  clear  stream,  Cadmus 
looked  eagerly  around  to  see  if  the  situation 
would  suit  him  for  a  home.  But  still,  whether 


The  brindled  cow  never  offered  to  lie  down 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  119 

he  liked  the  place  or  no,  the  brindled  cow  never 
offered  to  lie  down.  On  she  went  at  the  quiet 
pace  of  a  cow  going  homeward  to  the  barn  yard; 
and,  every  moment,  Cadmus  expected  to  see  a 
milkmaid  approaching  with  a  pail,  or  a  herdsman 
running  to  head  the  stray  animal,  and  turn  her 
back  towards  the  pasture.  But  no  milkmaid 
came;  no  herdsman  drove  her  back;  and  Cad- 
mus followed  the  stray  Brindle  till  he  was 
almost  ready  to  drop  down  with  fatigue. 

"O  brindled  cow,"  cried  he,  in  a  tone  of 
despair,  "do  you  never  mean  to  stop?" 

He  had  now  grown  too  intent  on  following 
her  to  think  of  lagging  behind,  however  long 
the  way,  and  whatever  might  be  his  fatigue. 
Indeed,  it  seemed  as  if  there  were  something 
about  the  animal  that  bewitched  people.  Several 
persons  who  happened  to  see  the  brindled  cow, 
and  Cadmus  following  behind,  began  to  trudge 
after  her,  precisely  as  he  did.  Cadmus  was 
glad  of  somebody  to  converse  with,  and  there- 
fore talked  very  freely  to  these  good  people. 
He  told  them  all  his  adventures,  and  how  he 
had  left  King  Agenor  in  his  palace,  and  Phcenix 
at  one  place,  and  Cilix  at  another,  and  Thasus 
at  a  third,  and  his  dear  mother,  Queen  Tele- 
phassa,  under  a  flowery  sod;  so  that  now  he 
was  quite  alone,  both  friendless  and  homeless. 
He  mentioned,  likewise,  that  the  oracle  had 
bidden  him  be  guided  by  a  cow,  and  inquired 


120  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

of  the  strangers  whether  they  supposed  that 
this  brindled  animal  could  be  the  one. 

"Why,  'tis  a  very  wonderful  affair,"  answered 
one  of  his  new  companions.  "I  am  pretty 
well  acquainted  with  the  ways  of  cattle,  and 
I  never  knew  a  cow,  of  her  own  accord,  to  go  so 
far  without  stopping.  If  my  legs  will  let  me, 
I'll  never  leave  following  the  beast  till  she  lies 
down." 

"Nor  I!"   said  a  second. 

"Nor  I!"  cried  a  third.  "If  she  goes  a 
hundred  miles  farther,  I  am  determined  to  see 
the  end  of  it." 

The  secret  of  it  was,  you  must  know,  that 
the  cow  was  an  enchanted  cow,  and  that,  with- 
out their  being  conscious  of  it,  she  threw  some 
of  her  enchantment  over  everybody  that  took 
so  much  as  half  a  dozen  steps  behind  her.  They 
could  not  possibly  help  following  her,  though  all 
the  time  they  fancied  themselves  doing  it  of 
their  own  accord.  The  cow  was  by  no  means 
very  nice  in  choosing  her  path;  so  that  some- 
times they  had  to  scramble  over  rocks,  or  wade 
through  mud  and  mire,  and  all  in  a  terribly 
bedraggled  condition,  and  tired  to  death,  and 
very  hungry,  into  the  bargain.  What  a  weary 
business  it  was! 

But  still  they  kept  trudging  stoutly  forward, 
and  talking  as  they  went.  The  strangers  grew 
very  fond  of  Cadmus,  and  resolved  never  to 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  121 

leave  him,  but  to  help  him  build  a  city  wherever 
the  cow  might  lie  down.  In  the  center  of  it 
there  should  be  a  noble  palace,  in  which  Cadmus 
might  dwell,  and  be  their  king,  with  a  throne, 
a  crown,  a  sceptre,  a  purple  robe,  and  every- 
thing else  that  a  king  ought  to  have;  for  in 
him  there  was  the  royal  blood,  and  the  royal 
heart,  and  the  head  that  knew  how  to  rule. 

While  they  were  talking  of  these  schemes,  and 
beguiling  the  tediousness  of  the  way  with  laying 
out  the  plan  of  the  new  city,  one  of  the  companv 
happened  to  look  at  the  cow. 

"Joy!  joy!"  cried  he,  clapping  his  hands. 
"Brindle  is  going  to  lie  down." 

They  all  looked;  and,  sure  enough,  the  cow 
had  stopped,  and  was  staring  leisurely  about 
her,  as  other  cows  do  when  on  the  point  of  lying 
down.  And  slowly,  slowly  did  she  recline 
herself  on  the  soft  grass,  first  bending  her  fore- 
legs, and  then  crouching  her  hind  ones.  When 
Cadmus  and  his  companions  came  up  with  her, 
there  was  the  brindled  cow  taking  her  ease, 
chewing  her  cud,  and  looking  them  quietly  in 
the  face;  as  if  this  was  just  the  spot  she  had 
been  seeking  for,  and  as  if  it  were  all  a  matter 
of  course. 

"This,  then,"  said  Cadmus,  gazing  around 
him,  "this  is  to  be  my  home." 

It  was  a  fertile  and  lovely  plain,  with  great 
trees  flinging  their  sun-speckled  shadows  over 


122  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

it,  and  hills  fencing  it  in  from  the  rough  weather. 
At  no  great  distance,  they  beheld  a  river  gleam- 
ing in  the  sunshine.  A  home  feeling  stole  into 
the  heart  of  poor  Cadmus.  He  was  very  glad  to 
know  that  here  he  might  awake  in  the  morning, 
without  the  necessity  of  putting  on  his  dusty 
sandals  to  travel  farther  and  farther.  The  days 
and  the  years  would  pass  over  him,  and  find 
him  still  in  this  pleasant  spot.  If  he  could  have 
had  his  brothers  with  him,  and  his  friend  Thasus, 
and  could  have  seen  his  dear  mother  under  a 
roof  of  his  own,  he  might  here  have  been  happy 
after  all  their  disappointments.  Some  day  or 
other,  too,  his  sister  Europa  might  have  come 
quietly  to  the  door  of  his  home,  and  smiled 
round  upon  the  familiar  faces.  But,  indeed, 
since  there  was  no  hope  of  regaining  the  friends 
of  his  boyhood,  or  ever  seeing  his  dear  sister 
again,  Cadmus  resolved  to  make  himself  happy 
with  these  new  companions,  who  had  grown  so 
fond  of  him  while  following  the  cow. 

"Yes,  my  friends,"  said  he  to  them,  "this  is 
to  be  our  home.  Here  we  will  build  our  habita- 
tions. The  brindled  cow,  which  has  led  us 
hither,  will  supply  us  with  milk.  We  will 
cultivate  the  neighboring  soil,  and  lead  an 
innocent  and  happy  life." 

His  companions  joyfully  assented  to  this  plan ; 
and,  in  the  first  place,  being  very  hungry  and 
thirsty,  they  looked  about  them  for  the  means 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  123 

of  providing  a  comfortable  meal.  Not  far  off 
they  saw  a  tuft  of  trees,  which  appeared  as  if 
there  might  be  a  spring  of  water  beneath  them. 
They  went  thither  to  fetch  some,  leaving  Cadmus 
stretched  on  the  ground  along  with  the  brindled 
cow;  for,  now  that  he  had  found  a  place  of 
rest,  it  seemed  as  if  all  the  weariness  of  his 
pilgrimage,  ever  since  he  left  King  Agenor's 
palace,  had  fallen  upon  him  at  once.  But  his 
new  friends  had  not  long  been  gone,  when  he 
was  suddenly  startled  by  cries,  shouts,  and 
screams,  and  the  noise  of  a  terrible  struggle, 
and  in  the  midst  of  it  all,  a  most  awful  hissing, 
which  went  right  through  his  ears  like  a  rough 
saw. 

Running  towards  the  tuft  of  trees,  he  beheld 
the  head  and  fiery  eyes  of  an  immense  serpent 
or  dragon,  with  the  widest  jaws  that  ever  a 
dragon  had,  and  a  vast  many  rows  of  horribly 
sharp  teeth.  Before  Cadmus  could  reach  the 
spot,  this  pitiless  reptile  had  killed  his  poor 
companions,  and  was  busily  devouring  them, 
making  but  a  mouthful  of  each  man. 

It  appears  that  the  fountain  of  water  was 
enchanted,  and  that  the  dragon  had  been  set  to 
guard  it,  so  that  no  mortal  might  ever  quench 
his  thirst  there.  As  the  neighboring  inhabi- 
tants carefully  avoided  the  spot,  it  was  now  a 
long  time  (not  less  than  a  hundred  years  or 
thereabouts)  since  the  monster  had  broken  his 


124  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

fast;  and,  as  was  natural  enough,  his  appetite 
had  grown  to  be  enormous,  and  was  not  half 
satisfied  by  the  poor  people  whom  he  had  just 
eaten  up.  When  he  caught  sight  of  Cadmus, 
therefore,  he  set  up  another  abominable  hiss,  and 
flung  back  his  immense  jaws,  until  his  mouth 
looked  like  a  great  red  cavern,  at  the  farther 
end  of  which  were  seen  the  legs  of  his  last  victim, 
whom  he  had  hardly  had  time  to  swallow. 

But  Cadmus  was  so  enraged  at  the  destruction 
of  his  friends  that  he  cared  neither  for  the 
size  of  the  dragon's  jaws  nor  for  his  hundreds  of 
sharp  teeth.  Drawing  his  sword,  he  rushed  at 
the  monster,  and  flung  himself  right  into  his 
cavernous  mouth.  This  bold  method  of  attack- 
ing him  took  the  dragon  by  surprise;  for,  in 
fact,  Cadmus  had  leaped  so  far  down  into  his 
throat,  that  the  rows  of  terrible  teeth  could  not 
close  upon  him,  nor  do  him  the  least  harm  in  the 
world.  Thus,  though  the  struggle  was  a  tre- 
mendous one,  and  though  the  dragon  shattered 
the  tuft  of  trees  into  small  splinters  by  the  lash- 
ing of  his  tail,  yet,  as  Cadmus  was  all  the  while 
slashing  and  stabbing  at  his  very  vitals,  it  was 
not  long  before  the  scaly  wretch  bethought  him- 
self of  slipping  away.  He  had  not  gone  his 
length,  however,  when  the  brave  Cadmus  gave 
him  a  sword  thrust  that  finished  the  battle;  and 
creeping  out  of  the  gateway  of  the  creature's 
jaws,  there  he  beheld  him  still  wriggling  his  vast 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  125 

bulk,  although  there  was  no  longer  life  enough  in 
him  to  harm  a  little  child. 

But  do  not  you  suppose  that  it  made  Cadmus 
sorrowful  to  think  of  the  melancholy  fate  which 
had  befallen  those  poor,  friendly  people,  who 
had  followed  the  cow  along  with  him?  It 
seemed  as  if  he  were  doomed  to  lose  everybody 
whom  he  loved,  or  to  see  them  perish  in  one  way 
or  another.  And  here  he  was,  after  all  his 
toils  and  troubles,  in  a  solitary  place,  with  not  a 
single  human  being  to  help  him  build  a  hut. 

"What  shall  I  do?"  cried  he  aloud.  "It 
were  better  for  me  to  have  been  devoured  by  the 
dragon,  as  my  poor  companions  were." 

"Cadmus,"  said  a  voice — but  whether  it 
came  from  above  or  below  him,  or  whether  it 
spoke  within  his  own  breast,  the  young  man 
could  not  tell — "  Cadmus,  pluck  out  the  dragon's 
teeth,  and  plant  them  in  the  earth." 

This  was  a  strange  thing  to  do;  nor  was  it 
very  easy,  I  should  imagine,  to  dig  out  all  those 
deep-rooted  fangs  from  the  dead  dragon's  jaws. 
But  Cadmus  toiled  and  tugged,  and  after  pound- 
ing the  monstrous  head  almost  to  pieces  with  a 
great  stone,  he  at  last  collected  as  many  teeth 
as  might  have  filled  a  bushel  or  two.  The  next 
thing  was  to  plant  them.  This,  likewise,  was  a 
tedious  piece  of  work,  especially  as  Cadmus  was 
already  exhausted  with  killing  the  dragon  and 
knocking  his  head  to  pieces,  and  had  nothing 


126  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

to  dig  the  earth  with,  that  I  know  of,  unless  it 
were  his  sword  blade.  Finally,  however,  a 
sufficiently  large  tract  of  ground  was  turned 
up,  and  sown  with  this  new  kind  of  seed; 
although  half  of  the  dragon's  teeth  still  re- 
mained to  be  planted  some  other  day. 

Cadmus,  quite  out  of  breath,  stood  leaning 
upon  his  sword,  and  wondering  what  was  to 
happen  next.  He  had  waited  but  a  few  mo- 
ments, when  he  began  to  see  a  sight,  which  was 
as  great  a  marvel  as  the  most  marvelous  thing 
I  ever  told  you  about. 

The  sun  was  shining  slantwise  over  the  field, 
and  showed  all  the  moist,  dark  soil  just  like 
any  other  newly-planted  piece  of  ground.  All 
at  once,  Cadmus  fancied  he  saw  something 
glisten  very  brightly,  first  at  one  spot,  then  at 
another,  and  then  at  a  hundred  and  a  thousand 
spots  together.  Soon  he  perceived  them  to  be 
the  steel  heads  of  spears,  sprouting  up  every- 
where like  so  many  stalks  of  grain,  and  con- 
tinually growing  taller  and  taller.  Next  ap- 
peared a  vast  number  of  bright  sword  blades, 
thrusting  themselves  up  in  the  same  way.  A 
moment  afterwards,  the  whole  surface  of  the 
ground  was  broken  by  a  multitude  of  polished 
brass  helmets,  coming  up  like  a  crop  of  enormous 
beans.  So  rapidly  did  they  grow,  that  Cadmus 
now  discerned  the  fierce  countenance  of  a  man 
beneath  every  one.  In  short,  before  he  had 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  127 

time  to  think  what  a  wonderful  affair  it  was, 
he  beheld  an  abundant  harvest  of  what  looked 
like  human  beings,  armed  with  helmets  and 
breastplates,  shields,  swords,  and  spears;  and 
before  they  were  well  out  of  the  earth,  they 
brandished  their  weapons,  and  clashed  them 
one  against  another,  seeming  to  think,  little 
while  as  they  had  yet  lived,  that  they  had  wasted 
too  much  of  life  without  a  battle.  Every  tooth 
of  the  dragon  had  produced  one  of  these  sons 
of  deadly  mischief. 

Up  sprouted  also  a  great  many  trumpeters; 
and  with  the  first  breath  that  they  drew,  they 
put  their  brazen  trumpets  to  their  lips,  and 
sounded  a  tremendous  and  ear-shattering  blast, 
so  that  the  whole  space,  just  now  so  quiet  and 
solitary,  reverberated  with  the  clash  and  clang  of 
arms,  the  bray  of  warlike  music,  and  the  shouts 
of  angry  men.  So  enraged  did  they  all  look, 
that  Cadmus  fully  expected  them  to  put  the 
whole  world  to  the  sword.  How  fortunate 
would  it  be  for  a  great  conqueror,  if  he  could  get 
a  bushel  of  the  dragon's  teeth  to  sow! 

"Cadmus,"  said  the  same  voice  which  he  had 
before  heard,  "throw  a  stone  into  the  midst  of 
the  armed  men." 

So  Cadmus  seized  a  large  stone,  and  flinging 
it  into  the  middle  of  the  earth  army,  saw  it 
strike  the  breastplate  of  a  gigantic  and  fierce- 
looking  warrior.  Immediately  on  feeling  the 


128  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

blow,  he  seemed  to  take  it  for  granted  that 
somebody  had  struck  him;  and,  uplifting  his 
weapon,  he  smote  his  next  neighbor  a  blow 
that  cleft  his  helmet  asunder,  and  stretched  him 
on  the  ground.  In  an  instant,  those  nearest  the 
fallen  warrior  began  to  strike  at  one  another 
with  their  swords,  and  stab  with  their  spears. 
The  confusion  spread  wider  and  wider.  Each 
man  smote  down  his  brother,  and  was  himself 
smitten  down  before  he  had  time  to  exult  in  his 
victory.  The  trumpeters,  all  the  while,  blew 
their  blasts  shriller  and  shriller;  each  soldier 
shouted  a  battle  cry,  and  often  fell  with  it  on 
his  lips.  It  was  the  strangest  spectacle  of 
causeless  wrath,  and  of  mischief  for  no  good 
end,  that  had  ever  been  witnessed;  but,  after 
all,  it  was  neither  more  foolish  nor  more  wicked 
than  a  thousand  battles  that  have  since  been 
fought,  in  which  men  have  slain  their  brothers 
with  just  as  little  reason  as  these  children  of 
the  dragon's  teeth.  It  ought  to  be  considered, 
too,  that  the  dragon  people  were  made  for 
nothing  else;  whereas  other  mortals  were  born 
to  love  and  help  one  another. 

Well,  this  memorable  battle  continued  to  rage 
until  the  ground  was  strewn  with  helmeted  heads 
that  had  been  cut  off.  Of  all  the  thousands  that 
began  the  fight,  there  were  only  five  left  stand- 
ing. These  now  rushed  from  different  parts  of 
the  field,  and,  meeting  in  the  middle  of  it, 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  129 

clashed  their  swords,  and  struck  at  each  other's 
hearts  as  fiercely  as  ever. 

"Cadmus,"  said  the  voice  again,  "bid  those 
five  warriors  sheathe  their  swords.  They  will 
help  you  to  build  the  city." 

Without  hesitating  an  instant,  Cadmus 
stepped  forward,  with  the  aspect  of  a  king  and  a 
leader,  and  extending  his  drawn  sword  amongst 
them,  spoke  to  the  warriors  in  a  stern  and 
commanding  voice. 

"Sheathe  your  weapons!"  said  he. 

And  forthwith,  feeling  themselves  bound  to 
obey  him,  the  five  remaining  sons  of  the  dragon's 
teeth  made  him  a  military  salute  with  their 
swords,  returned  them  to  the  scabbards,  and 
stood  before  Cadmus  in  a  rank,  eyeing  him  as 
soldiers  eye  their  captain,  while  awaiting  the 
word  of  command. 

These  five  men  had  probably  sprung  from  the 
biggest  of  the  dragon's  teeth,  and  were  the 
boldest  and  strongest  of  the  whole  army.  They 
were  almost  giants  indeed,  and  had  good  need 
to  be  so,  else  they  never  could  have  lived  through 
so  terrible  a  fight.  They  still  had  a  very 
furious  look,  and,  if  Cadmus  happened  to  glance 
aside,  would  glare  at  one  another,  with  fire 
flashing  out  of  their  eyes.  It  was  strange,  too, 
to  observe  how  the  earth,  out  of  which  they 
had  so  lately  grown,  was  in  crusted,  here  and 
there,  on  their  bright  breastplates,  and  even 


i3o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

begrimed  their  faces;  just  as  you  may  have 
seen  it  clinging  to  beets  and  carrots,  when  pulled 
out  of  their  native  soil.  Cadmus  hardly  knew 
whether  to  consider  them  as  men,  or  some  odd 
kind  of  vegetable;  although,  on  the  whole,  he 
concluded  that  there  was  human  nature  in 
them,  because  they  were  so  fond  of  trumpets 
and  weapons,  and  so  ready  to  shed  blood. 

They  looked  him  earnestly  in  the  face,  wait- 
ing for  his  next  order,  and  evidently  desiring 
no  other  employment  than  to  follow  him  from 
one  battlefield  to  another,  all  over  the  wide 
world.  But  Cadmus  was  wiser  than  these 
earth-born  creatures,  with  the  dragon's  fierce- 
ness in  them,  and  knew  better  how  to  use  their 
strength  and  hardihood. 

"Come!"  said  he.  "You  are  sturdy  fellows. 
Make  yourselves  useful!  Quarry  some  stones 
with  those  great  swords  of  yours,  and  help  me 
to  build  a  city." 

The  five  soldiers  grumbled  a  little,  and  mut- 
tered that  it  was  their  business  to  overthrow 
cities,  not  to  build  them  up.  But  Cadmus  looked 
at  them  with  a  stern  eye,  and  spoke  to  them  in  a 
tone  of  authority,  so  that  they  knew  him  for 
their  master,  and  never  again  thought  of  dis- 
obeying his  commands.  They  set  to  work  in 
good  earnest,  and  toiled  so  diligently,  that,  in  a 
very  short  time,  a  city  began  to  make  its  appear- 
ance. At  first,  to  be  sure,  the  workmen  showed 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  131 

a  quarrelsome  disposition.  Like  savage  beasts, 
they  would  doubtless  have  done  one  another  a 
mischief,  if  Cadmus  had  not  kept  watch  over 
them,  and  quelled  the  fierce  old  serpent  that 
lurked  in  their  hearts,  when  he  saw  it  gleaming 
out  of  their  wild  eyes.  But,  in  course  of  time, 
they  got  accustomed  to  honest  labor,  and  had 
sense  enough  to  feel  that  there  was  more  true 
enjoyment  in  living  at  peace,  and  doing  good  to 
one's  neighbor,  than  in  striking  at  him  with  a 
two-edged  sword.  It  may  not  be  too  much  to 
hope  that  the  rest  of  mankind  will  by  and  by 
grow  as  wise  and  peaceable  as  these  five  earth- 
begrimed  warriors,  who  sprang  from  the  dragon's 
teeth. 

And  now  the  city  was  built,  and  there  was  a 
home  in  it  for  each  of  the  workmen.  But  the 
palace  of  Cadmus  was  not  yet  erected,  because 
they  had  left  it  till  the  last,  meaning  to  intro- 
duce all  the  new  improvements  of  architecture, 
and  make  it  very  commodious,  as  well  as  stately 
and  beautiful.  After  finishing  the  rest  of  their 
labors,  they  all  went  to  bed  betimes,  in  order 
to  rise  in  the  gray  of  the  morning,  and  get  at 
least  the  foundation  of  the  edifice  laid  before 
nightfall.  But,  when  Cadmus  arose,  and  took 
his  way  towards  the  site  where  the  palace  was 
to  be  built,  followed  by  his  five  sturdy  workmen 
marching  all  in  a  row,  what  do  you  think  he 
saw? 


i32  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

What  should  it  be  but  the  most  magnificent 
palace'  that  had  ever  been  seen  in  the  world.  It 
was  built  of  marble  and  other  beautiful  kinds  of 
stone,  and  rose  high  into  the  air,  with  a  splendid 
dome  and  a  portico  along  the  front,  and  carved 
pillars,  and  everything  else  that  befitted  the 
habitation  of  a  mighty  king.  It  had  grown  up 
out  of  the  earth  in  almost  as  short  a  time  as  it 
had  taken  the  armed  host  to  spring  from  the 
dragon's  teeth;  and  what  made  the  matter 
more  strange,  no  seed  of  this  stately  edifice  ever 
had  been  planted. 

When  the  five  workmen  beheld  the  dome, 
with  the  morning  sunshine  making  it  look 
golden  and  glorious,  they  gave  a  great  shout. 

"Long  live  King  Cadmus,"  they  cried,  "in 
his  beautiful  palace." 

And  the  new  king,  with  his  five  faithful 
followers  at  his  heels,  shouldering  their  pickaxes 
and  marching  in  a  rank  (for  they  still  had  a 
soldierlike  sort  of  behavior,  as  their  nature  was) , 
ascended  the  palace  steps.  Halting  at  the 
entrance,  they  gazed  through  a  long  vista  of 
lofty  pillars,  that  were  ranged  from  end  to  end 
of  a  great  hall.  At  the  farther  extremity  of  this 
hall,  approaching  slowly  towards  him,  Cadmus 
beheld  a  female  figure,  wonderfully  beautiful, 
and  adorned  with  a  royal  robe,  and  a  crown  of 
diamonds  over  her  golden  ringlets,  and  the 
richest  necklace  that  ever  a  queen  wore.  His 


THE  DRAGON'S  TEETH.  133 

heart  thrilled  with  delight.  He  fancied  it  his 
long-lost  sister  Europa,  now  grown  to  woman- 
hood, coming  to  make  him  happy,  and  to  repay 
him  with  her  sweet  sisterly  affection,  for  all 
those  weary  wonderings  in  quest  of  her  since 
he  left  King  Agenor's  palace — for  the  tears  that 
he  had  shed,  on  parting  with  Phoenix,  and  Cilix, 
and  Thasus — for  the  heart-breakings  that  had 
made  the  whole  world  seem  dismal  to  him  over 
his  dear  mother's  grave. 

But,  as  Cadmus  advanced  to  meet  the  beau- 
tiful stranger,  he  saw  that  her  features  were 
unknown  to  him,  although,  in  the  little  time  that 
it  required  to  tread  along  the  hall,  he  had  already 
felt  a  sympathy  betwixt  himself  and  her. 

"No,  Cadmus,"  said  the  same  voice  that 
had  spoken  to  him  in  the  field  of  the  armed  men, 
;<  this  is  not  that  dear  sister  Europa  whom  you 
have  sought  so  faithfully  all  over  the  wide 
world.  This  is  Harmonia,  a  daughter  of  the 
sky,  who  is  given  you  instead  of  sister,  and 
brothers,  and  friend,  and  mother.  You  will  find 
all  those  dear  ones  in  her  alone." 

So  King  Cadmus  dwelt  in  the  palace,  with 
his  new  friend  Harmonia,  and  found  a  great 
deal  of  comfort  in  his  magnificent  abode,  but 
would  doubtless  have  found  as  much,  if  not 
more,  in  the  humblest  cottage  by  the  wayside. 
Before  many  years  went  by,  there  was  a  group 
of  rosy  little  children  (but  how  they  came 


i34  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

thither  has  always  been  a  mystery  to  me) 
sporting  in  the  great  hall,  and  on  the  marble 
steps  of  the  palace,  and  running  joyfully  to 
meet  King  Cadmus  when  affairs  of  state  left 
him  at  leisure  to  play  with  them.  They  called 
him  father,  and  Queen  Harmonia  mother.  The 
five  old  soldiers  of  the  dragon's  teeth  grew  very 
fond  of  these  small  urchins,  and  were  never 
weary  of  showing  them  how  to  shoulder  sticks, 
flourish  wooden  swords,  and  march  in  military 
order,  blowing  a  penny  trumpet,  or  beating  an 
abominable  rub-a-dub  upon  a  little  drum. 

But  King  Cadmus,  lest  there  should  be  too 
much  of  the  dragon's  tooth  in  his  children's 
disposition,  used  to  find  time  from  his  kingly 
duties  to  teach  them  their  A  B  C — which  he 
invented  for  their  benefit,  and  for  which  many 
little  people,  I  am  afraid,  are  not  half  so  grateful 
to  him  as  they  ought  to  be. 


CIRCE'S  PALACE. 

Some  of  you  have  heard,  no  doubt,  of  the  wise 
King  Ulysses,  and  how  he  went  to  the  siege  of 
Troy,  and  how,  after  that  famous  city  was  taken 
and  burned,  he  spent  ten  long  years  in  trying 
to  get  back  again  to  his  own  little  kingdom  of 
Ithaca.  At  one  time  in  the  course  of  this  weary 
voyage,  he  arrived  at  an  island  that  looked  very 
green  and  pleasant,  but  the  name  of  which  was 
unknown  to  him.  For,  only  a  little  while  before 
he  came  thither,  he  had  met  with  a  terrible 
hurricane,  or  rather  a  great  many  hurricanes 
at  once,  which  drove  his  fleet  of  vessels  into  a 
strange  part  of  the  sea,  where  neither  himself 
nor  any  of  his  mariners  had  ever  sailed.  This 
misfortune  was  entirely  owing  to  the  foolish 
curiosity  of  his  shipmates,  who,  while  Ulysses 
lay  asleep,  had  untied  some  very  bulky  leathern 
bags,  in  which  they  supposed  a  valuable  treasure 
to  be  concealed.  But  in  each  of  these  stout 
bags,  King  ^Eolus,  the  ruler  of  the  winds,  had 
tied  up  a  tempest,  and  had  given  it  to  Ulysses 
to  keep  in  order  that  he  might  be  sure  of  a 
favorable  passage  homeward  to  Ithaca;  and 


136  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

when  the  strings  were  loosened,  forth  rushed  the 
whistling  blasts,  like  air  out  of  a  blown  bladder, 
whitening  the  sea  with  foam,  and  scattering  the 
vessels  nobody  could  tell  whither. 

Immediately  after  escaping  from  this  peril,  a 
still  greater  one  had  befallen  him.  Scudding 
before  the  hurricane,  he  reached  a  place,  which, 
as  he  afterwards  found,  was  called  Laestrygonia, 
where  some  monstrous  giants  had  eaten  up 
many  of  his  campanions,  and  had  sunk  every 
one  of  his  vessels,  except  that  in  which  he 
himself  sailed,  by  flinging  great  masses  of  rock 
at  them,  from  the  cliffs  along  the  shore.  After 
going  through  such  troubles  as  these,  you  cannot 
wonder  that  King  Ulysses  was  glad  to  moor  his 
tempest-beaten  bark  in  a  quiet  cove  of  the  green 
island,  which  I  began  with  telling  you  about. 
But  he  had  encountered  so  many  dangers  from 
giants,  and  one-eyed  Cyclops,  and  monsters  of 
the  sea  and  land,  that  he  could  not  help  dreading 
some  mischief,  even  in  this  pleasant  and  seem- 
ingly solitary  spot.  For  two  days,  therefore, 
the  poor  weather-worn  voyagers  kept  quiet,  and 
either  staid  on  board  of  their  vessel,  or  merely 
crept  along  under  the  cliffs  that  bordered  the 
shore;  and  to  keep  themselves  alive,  they  dug 
shellfish  out  of  the  sand,  and  sought  for  any 
little  rill  of  fresh  water  that  might  be  running 
towards  the  sea. 

Before  the  two  days  were  spent,  they  grew 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  137 

very  weary  of  this  kind  of  life ;  for  the  followers 
of  King  Ulysses,  as  you  will  find  it  important 
to  remember,  were  terrible  gormandizers,  and 
pretty  sure  to  grumble  if  they  missed  their 
regulars  meals,  and  their  irregular  ones  besides. 
Their  stock  of  provisions  was  quite  exhausted, 
and  even  the  shellfish  began  to  get  scarce,  so 
that  they  had  now  to  choose  between  starving 
to  death  or  venturing  into  the  interior  of  the 
island,  where  perhaps  some  huge  three-headed 
dragon,  or  other  horrible  monster,  had  his  den. 
Such  misshapen  creatures  were  very  numerous 
in  those  days ;  and  nobody  ever  expected  to  make 
a  voyage,  or  take  a  journey,  without  running 
more  or  less  risk  of  being  devoured  by  them. 

But  King  Ulysses  was  a  bold  man  as  well  as  a 
prudent  one;  and  on  the  third  morning  he 
determined  to  discover  what  sort  of  a  place  the 
island  was,  and  whether  it  were  possible  to 
obtain  a  supply  of  food  for  the  hungry  mouths 
of  his  companions.  So,  taking  a  spear  in  his 
hand,  he  clambered  to  the  summit  of  a  cliff, 
and  gazed  round  about  him.  At  a  distance, 
towards  the  center  of  the  island,  he  beheld  the 
stately  towers  of  what  seemed  to  be  a  palace, 
built  of  snow-white  marble,  and  rising  in  the 
midst  of  a  grove  of  lofty  trees.  The  thick 
branches  of  these  trees  stretched  across  the 
front  of  the  edifice,  and  more  than  half  concealed 
it,  although,  from  the  portion  which  he  saw, 


138  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Ulysses  judged  it  to  be  spacious  and  exceedingly 
beautiful,  and  probably  the  residence  of  some 
great  nobleman  or  prince.  A  blue  smoke  went 
curling  up  from  the  chimney,  and  was  almost 
the  pleasantest  part  of  the  spectacle  to  Ulysses. 
For,  from  the  abundance  of  this  smoke,  it  was 
reasonable  to  conclude  that  there  was  a  good 
fire  in  the  kitchen,  and  that,  at  dinner-time,  a 
plentiful  banquet  would  be  served  up  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  palace,  and  to  whatever 
guests  might  happen  to  drop  in. 

With  so  agreeable  a  prospect  before  him, 
Ulysses  fancied  that  he  could  not  do  better 
than  go  straight  to  the  palace  gate,  and  tell  the 
master  of  it  that  there  was  a  crew  of  poor  ship- 
wrecked mariners,  not  far  off,  who  had  eaten 
nothing  for  a  day  or  two,  save  a  few  clams  and 
oysters,  and  would  therefore  be  thankful  for  a 
little  food.  And  the  prince  or  nobleman  must 
be  a  very  stingy  curmudgeon,  to  be  sure,  if,  at 
least,  when  his  own  dinner  was  over,  he  would 
not  bid  them  welcome  to  the  broken  victuals 
from  the  table. 

Pleasing  himself  with  this  idea,  King  Ulysses 
had  made  a  few  steps  in  the  direction  of  the 
palace,  when  there  was  a  great  twittering  and 
chirping  from  the  branch  of  a  neighboring  tree. 
A  moment  afterwards,  a  bird  came  flying 
towards  him,  and  hovered  in  the  air,  so  as 
almost  to  brush  his  face  with  its  wings.  It  was  a 


"Have  you  anything  to  tell  me,  little  bird?" 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  139 

very  pretty  little  bird,  with  purple  wings  and 
body,  and  yellow  legs,  and  a  circle  of  golden 
feathers  round  its  neck,  and  on  its  head  a  golden 
tuft,  which  looked  like  a  king's  crown  in  minia- 
ture. Ulysses  tried  to  catch  the  bird.  But  it 
fluttered  nimbly  out  of  his  reach,  still  chirping  in 
a  piteous  tone,  as  if  it  could  have  told  a  lament- 
able story,  had  it  only  been  gifted  with  human 
language.  And  when  he  attempted  to  drive  it 
away,  the  bird  flew  no  farther  than  the  bough  of 
the  next  tree,  and  again  came  fluttering  about  his 
head,  with  its  doleful  chirp,  as  soon  as  he  showed 
a  purpose  of  going  forward. 

"Have  you  anything  to  tell  me,  little  bird?" 
asked  Ulysses. 

And  he  was  ready  to  listen  attentively  to 
whatever  the  bird  might  communicate;  for,  at 
the  siege  of  Troy,  and  elsewhere,  he  had  known 
such  odd  things  to  happen,  that  he  would  not 
have  considered  it  much  out  of  the  common  run 
had  this  little  feathered  creature  talked  as 
plainly  as  himself. 

"Peep!"  said  the  bird,  "peep,  peep,  pe — 
weep!"  And  nothing  else  would  it  say,  but 
only,  "Peep,  peep,  pe — weep!"  in  a  melancholy 
cadence,  and  over  and  over  and  over  again.  As 
often  as  Ulysses  moved  forward,  however,  the 
bird  showed  the  greatest  alarm,  and  did  its  best 
to  drive  him  back,  with  the  anxious  flutter  of 
its  purple  wings.  Its  unaccountable  behavior 


i4o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

made  him  conclude,  at  last,  that  the  bird  knew 
of  some  danger  that  awaited  him,  and  which 
must  needs  be  very  terrible,  beyond  all  question, 
since  it  moved  even  a  little  fowl  to  feel  com- 
passion for  a  human  being.  So  he  resolved, 
for  the  present,  to  return  to  the  vessel,  and  tell 
his  companions  what  he  had  seen. 

This  appeared  to  satisfy  the  bird.  As  soon 
as  Ulysses  turned  back,  it  ran  up  the  trunk  of  a 
tree,  and  began  to  pick  insects  out  of  the  bark 
with  its  long,  sharp  bill;  for  it  was  a  kind  of 
woodpecker,  you  must  know,  and  had  to  get 
its  living  in  the  same  manner  as  other  birds  of 
that  species.  But  every  little  while,  as  it  pecked 
at  the  bark  of  the  tree,  the  purple  bird  bethought 
itself  of  some  secret  sorrow,  and  repeated  its 
plaintive  note  of  "Peep,  peep,  pe — weep!" 

On  his  way  to  the  shore,  Ulysses  had  the  good 
luck  to  kill  a  large  stag  by  thrusting  his  spear 
into  his  back.  Taking  it  on  his  shoulders  (for 
he  was  a  remarkably  strong  man),  he  lugged  it 
along  with  him,  and  flung  it  down  before  his 
hungry  companions.  I  have  already  hinted  to 
you  what  gormandizers  some  of  the  comrades  of 
King  Ulysses  were.  From  what  is  related  of 
them,  I  reckon  that  their  favorite  diet  was  pork, 
and  that  they  had  lived  upon  it  until  a  good  part 
of  their  physical  substance  was  swine's  flesh, 
and  their  tempers  and  dispositions  were  very 
much  akin  to  the  hog.  A  dish  of  venison, 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  141 

however,  was  no  unacceptable  meal  to  them, 
especially  after  feeding  so  long  on  oysters  and 
clams.  So,  beholding  the  dead  stag,  they  felt  of 
its  ribs,  in  a  knowing  way,  and  lost  no  time  in 
kindling  a  fire  of  driftwood,  to  cook  it.  The 
rest  of  the  day  was  spent  in  feasting;  and  if 
these  enormous  eaters  got  up  from  table  at 
sunset,  it  was  only  because  they  could  not  scrape 
another  morsel  off  the  poor  animal's  bones. 

The  next  morning,  their  appetites  were  as 
sharp  as  ever.  They  looked  at  Ulysses,  as  if 
they  expected  him  to  clamber  up  the  cliff  again, 
and  come  back  with  another  fat  deer  upon  his 
shoulders.  Instead  of  setting  out,  however,  he 
summoned  the  whole  crew  together,  and  told 
them  it  was  in  vain  to  hope  that  he  could  kill 
a  stag  every  day  for  their  dinner,  and  therefore 
it  was  advisable  to  think  of  some  other  mode  of 
satisfying  their  hunger. 

"Now,"  said  he,  "when  I  was  on  the  cliff, 
yesterday,  I  discovered  that  this  island  is 
inhabited.  At  a  considerable  distance  from  the 
shore  stood  a  marble  palace,  which  appeared  to 
be  very  spacious,  and  had  a  great  deal  of  smoke 
curling  out  of  one  of  its  chimneys." 

"Aha!"  muttered  some  of  his  companions, 
smacking  their  lips.  "That  smoke  must  have 
come  from  the  kitchen  fire.  There  was  a  good 
dinner  on  the  spit;  and  no  doubt  there  will  be 
as  good  a  one  to-day." 


i42  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"But,"  continued  the  wise  Ulysses,  "you 
must  remember,  my  good  friends,  our  mis- 
adventure in  the  cavern  of  one-eyed  Poly- 
phemus, the  Cyclops!  Instead  of  his  ordinary 
milk  diet,  did  he  not  eat  up  two  of  our  com- 
rades for  his  supper,  and  a  couple  more  for 
breakfast,  and  two  at  his  supper  again?  Me- 
thinks  I  see  him  yet,  the  hideous  monster, 
scanning  us  with  that  great  red  eye,  in  the 
middle  of  his  forehead,  to  single  out  the  fattest. 
And  then,  again,  only  a  few  days  ago,  did  we 
not  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  king  of  the  Laestry- 
gons,  and  those  other  horrible  giants,  his  subjects, 
who  devoured  a  great  many  more  of  us  than  are 
now  left?  To  tell  you  the  truth,  if  we  go  to 
yonder  palace,  there  can  be  no  question  that  we 
shall  make  our  appearance  at  the  dinner  table; 
but  whether  seated  as  guests,  or  served  up  as 
food,  is  a  point  to  be  seriously  considered." 

"Either  way,"  murmured  some  of  the  hun- 
griest of  the  crew;  "it  will  be  better  than 
starvation;  particularly  if  one  could  be  sure  of 
being  well  fattened  beforehand,  and  daintily 
cooked  afterwards." 

"That  is  a  matter  of  taste,"  said  King 
Ulysses,  "and,  for  my  own  part,  neither  the 
most  careful  fattening  nor  the  daintiest  of 
cookery  would  reconcile  me  to  being  dished  at 
last.  My  proposal  is,  therefore,  that  we  divide 
ourselves  into  two  equal  parties,  and  ascertain, 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  143 

by  drawing  lots,  which  of  the  two  shall  go  to 
the  palace,  and  beg  for  .food  and  assistance. 
If  these  can  be  obtained,  all  is  well.  If  not,  and 
if  the  inhabitants  prove  as  inhospitable  as 
Polyphemus,  or  the  Laestrygons,  then  there  will 
but  half  of  us  perish,  and  the  remainder  may 
set  sail  and  escape." 

As  nobody  objected  to  this  scheme,  Ulysses 
proceeded  to  count  the  whole  band,  and  found 
that  there  were  forty-six  men,  including  himself. 
He  then  numbered  off  twenty-two  of  them,  and 
put  Eurylochus  (who  was  one  of  his  chief  officers, 
and  second  only  to  himself  in  sagacity)  at  their 
head.  Ulysses  took  command  of  the  remaining 
twenty- two  men,  in  person.  Then,  taking  off 
his  helmet,  he  put  two  shells  into  it,  on  one  of 
which  was  written,  "Go,"  and  on  the  other 
"  Stay."  Another  person  now  held  the  helmet, 
while  Ulysses  and  Eurylochus  drew  out  each  a 
shell;  and  the  word  "Go"  was  found  written 
on  that  which  Eurylochus  had  drawn.  In  this 
manner,  it  was  decided  that  Ulysses  and  his 
twenty-two  men  were  to  remain  at  the  seaside 
until  the  other  party  should  have  found  out 
what  sort  of  treatment  they  might  expect  at  the 
mysterious  palace.  As  there  was  no  help  for 
it,  Eurylochus  immediately  set  forth  at  the  head 
of  his  twenty-two  followers,  who  went  off  in  a 
very  melancholy  state  of  mind,  leaving  their 

friends  in  hardly  better  spirits  than  themselves. 
10 


144  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

No  sooner  had  they  clambered  up  the  cliff, 
than  they  discerned  the  tall  marble  towers  of  the 
palace,  ascending,  as  white  as  snow,  out  of  the 
lovely  green  shadow  of  the  trees  which  sur- 
rounded it.  A  gush  of  smoke  came  from  a 
chimney  in  the  rear  of  the  edifice.  This  vapor 
rose  high  in  the  air,  and,  meeting  with  a  breeze, 
was  wafted  seaward,  and  made  to  pass  over 
the  heads  of  the  hungry  mariners.  When 
people's  appetites  are  keen,  they  have  a  very 
quick  scent  for  anything  savory  in  the  wind. 

"That  smoke  comes  from  the  kitchen!" 
cried  one  of  them,  turning  up  his  nose  as  high  as 
he  could,  and  snuffing  eagerly.  "And,  as  sure 
as  I'm  a  half-starved  vagabond,  I  smell  roast 
meat  in  it." 

"Pig,  roast  pig!"  said  another.  "Ah,  the 
dainty  little  porker.  My  mouth  waters  for  him. " 

"  Let  us  make  haste,"  cried  the  others,  "  or  we 
shall  be  too  late  for  the  good  cheer ! ' ' 

But  scarcely  had  they  made  half  a  dozen  steps 
from  the  edge  of  the  cliff,  when  a  bird  came 
fluttering  to  meet  them.  It  was  the  same  pretty 
little  bird,  with  the  purple  wings  and  body,  the 
yellow  legs,  the  golden  collar  round  its  neck, 
and  the  crown-like  tuft  upon  its  head,  whose 
behavior  had  so  much  surprised  Ulysses.  It 
hovered  about  Eurylochus,  and  almost  brushed 
his  face  with  its  wings. 

"Peep,  peep,  pe — weep!"  chirped  the  bird. 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  145 

So  plaintively  intelligent  was  the  sound,  that 
it  seemed  as  if  the  little  creature  were  going  to 
break  its  heart  with  some  mighty  secret  that  it 
had  to  tell,  and  only  this  one  poor  note  to  tell 
it  with. 

"My  pretty  bird,"  said  Eurylochus — for  he 
was  a  wary  person,  and  let  no  token  of  harm 
escape  his  notice — "my  pretty  bird,  who  sent 
you  hither?  And  what  is  the  message  which 
you  bring?" 

"Peep,  peep,  pe — weep!"  replied  the  bird, 
very  sorrowfully. 

Then  it  flew  towards  the  edge  of  the  cliff, 
and  looked  around  at  them,  as  if  exceedingly 
anxious  that  they  should  return  whence  they 
came.  Eurylochus  and  a  few  of  the  others  were 
inclined  to  turn  back.  They  could  not  help 
suspecting  that  the  purple  bird  must  be  aware 
of  something  mischievous  that  would  befall 
them  at  the  palace,  and  the  knowledge  of  which 
affected  its  airy  spirit  with  a  human  sympathy 
and  sorrow.  But  the  rest  of  the  voyagers, 
snuffing  up  the  smoke  from  the  palace  kitchen, 
ridiculed  the  idea  of  returning  to  the  vessel. 
One  of  them  (more  brutal  than  his  fellows,  and 
the  most  notorious  gormandizer  in  the  crew)  said 
such  a  cruel  and  wicked  thing,  that  I  wonder 
the  mere  thought  did  not  turn  him  into  a  wild 
beast,  in  shape,  as  he  already  was  in  his  nature. 

"This    troublesome    and    impertinent    little 


i46  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

fowl,"  said  he,  "would  make  a  delicate  titbit 
to  begin  dinner  with.  Just  one  plump  morsel, 
melting  away  between  the  teeth.  If  he  comes 
within  my  reach,  I'll  catch  him,  and  give  him  to 
the  palace  cook  to  be  roasted  on  a  skewer." 

The  words  were  hardly  out  of  his  mouth, 
before  the  purple  bird  flew  away,  crying,  "  Peep, 
peep,  pe — weep,"  more  dolorously  than  ever. 

"That  bird,"  remarked  Eurylochus,  "knows 
more  than  we  do  about  what  awaits  us  at  the 
palace." 

"Come  on,  then,"  cried  his  comrades,  "and 
we'll  soon  know  as  much  as  he  does." 

The  party,  accordingly,  went  onward  through 
the  green  and  pleasant  wood.  Every  little 
while  they  caught  new  glimpses  of  the  marble 
palace,  which  looked  more  and  more  beautiful 
the  nearer  they  approached  it.  They  soon 
entered  a  broad  pathway,  which  seemed  to  be 
very  neatly  kept,  and  which  went  winding 
along,  with  streaks  of  sunshine  falling  across  it 
and  specks  of  light  quivering  among  the  deepest 
shadows  that  fell  from  the  lofty  trees.  It  was 
bordered,  too,  with  a  great  many  sweet-smelling 
flowers,  such  as  the  mariners  had  never  seen 
before.  So  rich  and  beautiful  they  were,  that, 
if  the  shrubs  grew  wild  here,  and  were  native  in 
the  soil,  then  this  island  was  surely  the  flower 
garden  of  the  whole  earth;  or,  if  transplanted 
from  some  other  clime,  it  must  have  been  from 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  147 

the  Happy  Islands  that  lay  towards  the  golden 
sunset. 

"  There  has  been  a  great  deal  of  pains  foolishly 
wasted  on  these  flowers,"  observed  one  of  the 
company ;  and  I  tell  you  what  he  said,  that  you 
may  keep  in  mind  what  gormandizers  they  were. 
"  For  my  part,  if  I  were  the  owner  of  the  palace, 
I  would  bid  my  gardener  cultivate  nothing  but 
savory  pot  herbs  to  make  a  stuffing  for  roast 
meat,  or  to  flavor  a  stew  with." 

"Well  said!"  cried  the  others.  "But  I'll 
warrant  you  there's  a  kitchen  garden  in  the 
rear  of  the  palace." 

At  one  place  they  came  to  a  crystal  spring, 
and  paused  to  drink  at  it  for  want  of  liquor 
which  they  liked  better.  Looking  into  its 
bosom,  they  beheld  their  own  faces  dimly 
reflected,  but  so  extravagantly  distorted  by  the 
gush  and  motion  of  the  water,  that  each  one  of 
them  appeared  to  be  laughing  at  himself  and  all 
his  companions.  So  ridiculous  were  these  images 
of  themselves,  indeed,  that  they  did  really 
laugh  aloud,  and  could  hardly  be  grave  again 
as  soon  as  they  wished.  And  after  they  had 
drank,  they  grew  still  merrier  than  before. 

"  It  has  a  twang  of  the  wine  cask  in  it,"  said 
one,  smacking  his  lips. 

"Make  haste!"  cried  his  fellows:  "we'll 
find  the  wine  cask  itself  at  the  palace;  and  that 
will  be  better  than  a  hundred  crystal  fountains." 


i48  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Then  they  quickened  their  pace,  and  capered 
for  joy  at  the  thought  of  the  savory  banquet 
at  which  they  hoped  to  be  guests.  But  Eury- 
lochus  told  them  that  he  felt  as  if  he  were 
walking  in  a  dream. 

"If  I  am  really  awake,"  continued  he,  "then, 
in  my  opinion,  we  are  on  the  point  of  meeting 
with  some  stranger  adventure  than  any  that 
befell  us  in  the  cave  of  Polyphemus,  or  among 
the  gigantic  man-eating  Laestrygons,  or  in  the 
windy  palace  of  King  ^Eolus,  which  stands  on  a 
brazen-walled  island.  This  kind  of  dreamy 
feeling  always  comes  over  me  before  any  wonder- 
ful occurrence.  If  you  take  my  advice,  you 
will  turn  back." 

"  No,  no,"  answered  his  comrades,  snuffing  the 
air,  in  which  the  scent  from  the  palace  kitchen 
was  now  very  perceptible.  "We  would  not 
turn  back,  though  we  were  certain  that  the  king 
of  the  Laestrygons,  as  big  as  a  mountain,  would 
sit  at  the  head  of  the  table,  and  huge  Poly- 
phemus, the  one-eyed  Cyclops,  at  its  foot." 

At  length  they  came  within  full  sight  of  the 
palace,  which  proved  to  be  very  large  and  lofty, 
with  a  great  number  of  airy  pinnacles  upon  its 
roof.  Though  it  was  midday,  and  the  sun 
shone  brightly  over  the  marble  front,  yet  its 
snowy  whiteness,  and  its  fantastic  style  of 
architecture,  made  it  look  unreal,  like  the  frost 
work  on  a  window  pane,  or  like  the  shapes  of 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  149 

castles  which  one  sees  among  the  clouds  by  moon- 
light. But,  just  then,  a  puff  of  wind  brought 
down  the  smoke  of  the  kitchen  chimney  among 
them,  and  caused  each  man  to  smell  the  odor  of 
the  dish  that  he  liked  best ;  and,  after  scenting  it, 
they  thought  everything  else  moonshine,  and 
nothing  real  save  this  palace,  and  save  the  ban- 
quet that  was  evidently  ready  to  be  served  up  in  it. 

So  they  hastened  their  steps  towards  the 
portal,  but  had  not  got  half  way  across  the 
wide  lawn,  when  a  pack  of  lions,  tigers,  and 
wolves  came  bounding  to  meet  them.  The 
terrified  mariners  started  back,  expecting  no 
better  fate  than  to  be  torn  to  pieces  and  de- 
voured. To  their  surprise  and  joy,  however, 
these  wild  beasts  merely  capered  around  them, 
wagging  their  tails,  offering  their  heads  to  be 
stroked  and  patted,  and  behaving  just  like  so 
many  well-bred  house  dogs,  when  they  wish  to 
express  their  delight  at  meeting  their  master, 
or  their  master's  friends.  The  biggest  lion  licked 
the  feet  of  Eurylochus;  and  every  other  lion,  and 
every  wolf  and  tiger,  singled  out  one  of  his  two 
and  twenty  followers,  whom  the  beast  fondled 
as  if  he  loved  him  better  than  a  beef  bone. 

But,  for  all  that,  Eurylochus  imagined  that 
he  saw  something  fierce  and  savage  in  their 
eyes ;  nor  would  he  have  been  surprised,  at  any 
moment,  to  feel  the  big  lion's  terrible  claws,  or 
to  see  each  of  the  tigers  make  a  deadly  spring, 


150  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

or  each  wolf  leap  at  the  throat  of  the  man  whom 
he  had  fondled.  Their  mildness  seemed  unreal, 
and  a  mere  freak;  but  their  savage  nature  was 
as  true  as  their  teeth  and  claws. 

Nevertheless,  the  men  went  safely  across  the 
lawn  with  the  wild  beasts  frisking  about  them, 
and  doing  no  manner  of  harm;  although,  as 
they  mounted  the  steps  of  the  palace,  you  might 
possibly  have  heard  a  low  growl,  particularly 
from  the  wolves;  as  if  they  thought  it  a  pity, 
after  all,  to  let  the  strangers  pass  without  so 
much  as  tasting  what  they  were  made  of. 

Eurylochus  and  his  followers  now  passed 
under  a  lofty  portal,  and  looked  through  the 
open  doorway  into  the  interior  of  the  palace. 
The  first  thing  that  they  saw  was  a  spacious  hall, 
and  a  fountain  in  the  middle  of  it,  gushing  up 
towards  the  ceiling  out  of  a  marble  basin,  and 
falling  back  into  it  with  a  continual  plash.  The 
water  of  this  fountain  ,as  it  spouted  upward, 
was  constantly  taking  new  shapes,  not  very 
distinctly,  but  plainly  enough  for  a  nimble 
fancy  to  recognize  what  they  were.  Now  it  was 
the  shape  of  a  man  in  a  long  robe,  the  fleecy 
whiteness  of  which  was  made  out  of  the  foun- 
tain's spray;  now  it  was  a  lion,  or  a  tiger,  or 
a  wolf,  or  an  ass,  or,  as  often  as  anything  else,  a 
hog,  wallowing  in  the  marble  basin  as  if  it  were 
his  sty.  It  was  either  magic  or  some  very 
curious  machinery  that  caused  the  gushing 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  151 

waterspout  to  assume  all  these  forms.  But, 
before  the  strangers  had  time  to  look  closely  at 
this  wonderful  sight,  their  attention  was  drawn 
off  by  a  very  sweet  and  agreeable  sound.  A 
woman's  voice  was  singing  melodiously  in 
another  room  of  the  palace,  and  with  her  voice 
was  mingled  the  noise  of  a  loom,  at  which  she 
was  probably  seated,  weaving  a  rich  texture  of 
cloth,  and  intertwining  the  high  and  low  sweet- 
ness of  her  voice  into  a  rich  tissue  of  harmony. 

By  and  by,  the  song  came  to  an  end;  and 
then,  all  at  once,  there  were  several  feminine 
voices,  talking  airily  and  cheerfully,  with  now 
and  then  a  merry  burst  of  laughter,  such  as  you 
may  always  hear  when  three  or  four  young 
women  sit  at  work  together. 

"What  a  sweet  song  that  was!"  exclaimed 
one  of  the  voyagers. 

"Too  sweet,  indeed,"  answered  Eurylochus, 
shaking  his  head.  "  Yet  it  was  not  so  sweet  as 
the  song  of  the  Sirens,  those  bird-like  damsels 
who  wanted  to  tempt  us  on  the  rocks,  so  that 
our  vessel  might  be  wrecked,  and  our  bones  left 
whitening  along  the  shore." 

"  But  just  listen  to  the  pleasant  voices  of 
those  maidens,  and  that  buzz  of  the  loom,  as  the 
shuttle  passes  to  and  fro,"  said  another  comrade. 
"What  a  domestic,  household,  home-like  sound 
it  is!  Ah,  before  that  weary  siege  of  Troy,  I 
used  to  hear  the  buzzing  loom  and  the  women's 


iS2  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

voices  under  my  own  roof.  Shall  I  never  hear 
them  again?  nor  taste  those  nice  little  savory 
dishes  which  my  dearest  wife  knew  how  to 
serve  up?" 

"Tush!  we  shall  fare  better  here,"  said 
another.  "  But  how  innocently  those  women 
are  babbling  together,  without  guessing  that  we 
overhear  them!  And  mark  that  richest  voice 
of  all,  so  pleasant  and  so  familiar,  but  which 
yet  seems  to  have  the  authority  of  a  mistress 
among  them.  Let  us  show  ourselves  at  once. 
What  harm  can  the  lady  of  the  palace  and  her 
maidens  do  to  mariners  and  warriors  like  us?" 

"Remember,"  said  Eurylochus,  "that  it  was 
a  young  maiden  who  beguiled  three  of  our 
friends  into  the  palace  of  the  king  of  the  Lasstry- 
gons,  who  ate  up  one  of  them  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye." 

No  warning  or  persuasion,  however,  had  any 
effect  on  his  companions.  They  went  up  to  a 
pair  of  folding  doors  at  the  farther  end  of  the 
hall,  and  throwing  them  wide  open,  passed  into 
the  next  room.  Eurylochus,  meanwhile,  had 
stepped  behind  a  pillar.  In  the  short  moment 
while  the  folding  doors  opened  and  closed  again, 
he  caught  a  glimpse  of  a  very  beautiful  woman 
rising  from  the  loom,  and  coming  to  meet  the 
poor  weather-beaten  wanderers,  with  a  hospit- 
able smile,  and  her  hand  stretched  out  in 
welcome.  There  were  four  other  young  women, 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  153 

who  joined  their  hands  and  danced  merrily 
forward,  making  gestures  of  obeisance  to  the 
strangers.  They  were  only  less  beautiful  than 
the  lady  who  seemed  to  be  their  mistress.  Yet 
Eurylochus  fancied  that  one  of  them  had  sea- 
green  hair,  and  that  the  close-fitting  bodice  of  a 
second  looked  like  the  bark  of  a  tree,  and  that 
both  the  others  had  something  odd  in  their 
aspect,  although  he  could  not  quite  determine 
what  it  was,  in  the  little  while  that  he  had  to 
examine  them. 

The  folding  doors  swung  quickly  back,  and 
left  him  standing  behind  the  pillar,  in  the 
solitude  of  the  outer  hall.  There  Eurylochus 
waited  until  he  was  quite  weary,  and  listened 
eagerly  to  every  sound,  but  without  hearing 
anything  that  could  help  him  to  guess  what  had 
become  of  his  friends.  Footsteps,  it  is  true, 
seemed  to  be  passing  and  repassing,  in  other 
parts  of  the  palace.  Then  there  was  a  clatter  of 
silver  dishes,  or  golden  ones,  which  made  him 
imagine  a  rich  feast  in  a  splendid  banqueting 
hall.  But  by  and  by  he  heard  a  tremendous 
grunting  and  squealing,  and  then  a  sudden 
scampering,  like  that  of  small,  hard  hoofs  over 
a  marble  floor,  while  the  voices  of  the  mistress 
and  her  four  handmaidens  were  screaming  all 
together,  in  tones  of  anger  and  derision.  Eury- 
lochus could  not  conceive  what  had  happened, 
unless  a  drove  of  swine  had  broken  into  the 


i54  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

palace,  attracted  by  the  smell  of  the  feast. 
Chancing  to  cast  his  eyes  at  the  fountain,  he  saw 
that  it  did  not  shift  its  shape,  as  formerly,  nor 
looked  either  like  a  long-robed  man,  or  a  lion, 
a  tiger,  a  wolf,  or  an  ass.  It  looked  like  nothing 
but  a  hog,  which  lay  wallowing  in  the  marble 
basin,  and  filled  it  from  brim  to  brim. 

But  we  must  leave  the  prudent  Eurylochus 
waiting  in  the  outer  hall,  and  follow  his  friends 
into  the  inner  secrecy  of  the  palace.  As  soon  as 
the  beautiful  woman  saw  them,  she  arose  from 
the  loom,  as  I  have  told  you,  and  came  forward, 
smiling,  and  stretching  out  her  hand.  She  took 
the  hand  of  the  foremost  among  them,  and  bade 
him  and  the  whole  party  welcome. 

"You  have  been  long  expected,  my  good 
friends,"  said  she.  "I  and  my  maidens  are 
well  acquainted  with  you,  although  you  do  not 
appear  to  recognize  us.  Look  at  this  piece  of 
tapestry,  and  judge  if  your  faces  must  not  have 
been  familiar  to  us." 

So  the  voyagers  examined  the  web  of  cloth 
which  the  beautiful  woman  had  been  weaving 
in  her  loom;  and,  to  their  vast  astonishment, 
they  saw  their  own  figures  perfectly  represented 
in  different  colored  threads.  It  was  a  life-like 
picture  of  their  recent  adventures,  showing  them 
in  the  cave  of  Polyphemus,  and  how  they  had 
put  out  his  one  great  moony  eye;  while  in 
another  part  of  the  tapestry  they  were  untying 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  155 

the  leathern  bags,  puffed  out  with  contrary 
winds;  and  farther  on,  they  beheld  themselves 
scampering  away  from  the  gigantic  king  of  the 
Laestrygons,  who  had  caught  one  of  them  by  the 
leg.  Lastly,  there  they  were,  sitting  on  the 
desolate  shore  of  this  very  island,  hungry  and 
downcast,  and  looking  ruefully  at  the  bare  bones 
of  the  stag  which  they  devoured  yesterday. 
This  was  as  far  as  the  work  had  yet  proceeded ; 
but  when  the  beautiful  woman  should  again 
sit  down  at  her  loom,  she  would  probably  make 
a  picture  of  what  had  since  happened  to  the 
strangers,  and  of  what  was  now  going  to  happen. 

"You  see,"  she  said,  "that  I  know  all  about 
your  troubles;  and  you  cannot  doubt  that  I 
desire  to  make  you  happy  for  as  long  a  time  as 
you  may  remain  with  me.  For  this  purpose, 
my  honored  guests,  I  have  ordered  a  banquet 
to  be  prepared.  Fish,  fowl,  and  flesh,  roasted, 
and  in  luscious  stews,  and  seasoned,  I  trust,  to 
all  your  tastes,  are  ready  to  be  served  up.  If 
your  appetites  tell  you  it  is  dinner  time,  then 
come  with  me  to  the  festal  saloon." 

At  this  kind  invitation,  the  hungry  mariners 
were  quite  overjoyed;  and  one  of  them,  taking 
upon  himself  to  be  spokesman,  assured  their 
hospitable  hostess  that  any  hour  of  the  day  was 
dinner  time  with  them,  whenever  they  could  get 
flesh  to  put  in  the  pot,  and  fire  to  boil  it  with. 
So  the  beautiful  woman  led  the  way;  and  the 


156  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

four  maidens  (one  of  them  had  sea-green  hair, 
another  a  bodice  of  oak  bark,  a  third  sprinkled 
a  shower  of  water  drops  from  her  fingers'  ends, 
and  the  fourth  had  some  other  oddity,  which  I 
have  forgotten),  all  these  followed  behind,  and 
hurried  the  guests  along,  until  they  entered  a 
magnificent  saloon.  It  was  built  in  a  perfect 
oval,  and  lighted  from  a  crystal  dome  above. 
Around  the  walls  were  ranged  two  and  twenty 
thrones,  overhung  by  canopies  of  crimson  and 
gold,  and  provided  with  the  softest  of  cushions, 
which  were  tasselled  and  fringed  with  gold  cord. 
Each  of  the  strangers  was  invited  to  sit  down; 
and  there  they  were,  two  and  twenty  storm- 
beaten  mariners,  in  worn  and  tattered  garb, 
sitting  on  two  and  twenty  cushioned  and  cano- 
pied thrones,  so  rich  and  gorgeous  that  the 
proudest  monarch  had  nothing  more  splendid 
in  his  stateliest  hall. 

Then  you  might  have  seen  the  guests  nodding, 
winking  with  one  eye,  and  leaning  from  one 
throne  to  another,  to  communicate  their  satis- 
faction in  hoarse  whispers. 

''Our  good  hostess  has  made  kings  of  us  all," 
said  one.  "Ha!  do  you  smell  the  feast?  I'll 
engage  it  will  be  fit  to  set  before  two  and  twenty 
kings." 

"I  hope,"  said  another,  "it  will  be,  mainly, 
good  substantial  joints,  sirloins,  spareribs,  and 
hinder  quarters,  without  too  many  kickshaws. 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  157 

If  I  thought  the  good  lady  would  not  take  it 
amiss,  I  should  call  for  a  fat  slice  of  fried  bacon 
to  begin  with." 

Ah,  the  gluttons  and  gormandizers!  You  see 
how  it  was  with  them.  In  the  loftiest  seats  of 
dignity,  on  royal  thrones,  they  could  think  of 
nothing  but  their  greedy  appetite,  which  was  the 
portion  of  their  nature  that  they  shared  with 
wolves  and  swine;  so  that  they  resembled 
those  vilest  of  animals  far  more  than  they  did 
kings — if,  indeed,  kings  were  what  they  ought 
to  be. 

But  the  beautiful  woman  now  clapped  her 
hands;  and  immediately  there  entered  a  train 
of  two  and  twenty  serving  man,  bringing  dishes 
of  the  richest  food,  all  hot  from  the  kitchen  fire, 
and  sending  up  such  a  steam  that  it  hung  like  a 
cloud  below  the  crystal  dome  of  the  saloon. 
An  equal  number  of  attendants  brought  great 
flagons  of  wine,  of  various  kinds,  some  of  which 
sparkled  as  it  was  poured  out,  and  went  bubbling 
down  the  throat;  while,  of  other  sorts,  the 
purple  liquor  was  so  clear  that  you  could  see  the 
wrought  figures  at  the  bottom  of  the  goblet. 
While  the  servants  supplied  the  two  and  twenty 
guests  with  food  and  drink,  the  hostess  and  her 
four  maidens  went  from  one  throne  to  another, 
exhorting  them  to  eat  their  fill,  and  to  quaff 
wine  abundantly,  and  thus  to  recompense  them- 
selves, at  this  one  banquet,  for  the  many  days 


i  S8  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

when  they  had  gone  without  a  dinner.  But 
whenever  the  mariners  were  not  looking  at  them 
(which  was  pretty  often,  as  they  looked  chiefly 
into  the  basins  and  platters),  the  beautiful 
woman  and  her  damsels  turned  aside,  and 
laughed.  Even  the  servants,  as  they  knelt 
down  to  present  the  dishes,  might  be  seen  to 
grin  and  sneer,  while  the  guests  were  helping 
themselves  to  the  offered  dainties. 

And,  once  in  a  while,  the  strangers  seemed  to 
taste  something  that  they  did  not  like. 

"Here  is  an  odd  kind  of  spice  in  this  dish," 
said  one.  "  I  can't  say  it  quite  suits  my  palate. 
Down  it  goes,  however." 

"Send  a  good  draught  of  wine  down  your 
throat,"  said  his  comrade  on  the  next  throne. 
"  That  is  the  stuff  to  make  this  sort  of  cookery 
relish  well.  Though  I  must  needs  say,  the 
wine  has  a  queer  taste  too.  But  the  more  I 
drink  of  it,  the  better  I  like  the  flavor." 

Whatever  little  fault  they  might  find  with  the 
dishes,  they  sat  at  dinner  a  prodigiously  long 
while;  and  it  would  really  have  made  you 
ashamed  to  see  how  they  swilled  down  the 
liquor  and  gobbled  up  the  food.  They  sat  on 
golden  thrones,  to  be  sure;  but  they  behaved 
like  pigs  in  a  sty;  and,  if  they  had  had  their 
wits  about  them,  they  might  have  guessed  that 
this  was  the  opinion  of  their  beautiful  hostess 
and  her  maidens.  It  brings  a  blush  into  my 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  159 

face  to  reckon  up,  in  my  own  mind,  what 
mountains  of  meat  and  pudding,  and  what 
gallons  of  wine,  these  two  and  twenty  guzzlers 
and  gormandizers  ate  and  drank.  They  forgot 
all  about  their  homes,  and  their  wives  and 
children,  and  all  about  Ulysses,  and  everything 
else,  except  this  banquet,  at  which  they  wanted 
to  keep  feasting  forever.  But  at  length  they 
began  to  give  over,  from  mere  incapacity  to 
hold  any  more. 

"That  last  bit  of  fat  is  too  much  for  me," 
said  one. 

"And  I  have  not  room  for  another  morsel," 
said  his  next  neighbor,  heaving  a  sigh.  "What 
a  pity!  My  appetite  is  as  sharp  as  ever." 

In  short,  they  all  left  off  eating,  and  leaned 
back  on  their  thrones,  with  such  a  stupid  and 
helpless  aspect  as  made  them  ridiculous  to 
behold.  When  their  hostess  saw  this,  she 
laughed  aloud;  so  did  her  four  damsels;  so 
did  the  two  and  twenty  serving  men  that  bore 
the  dishes,  and  their  two  and  twenty  fellows 
that  poured  out  the  wine.  And  the  louder  they 
all  laughed,  the  more  stupid  and  helpless  did 
the  two  and  twenty  gormandizers  look.  Then 
the  beautiful  woman  took  her  stand  in  the 
middle  of  the  saloon,  and  stretching  out  a 
slender  rod  (it  had  been  all  the  while  in  her  hand, 
although  they  never  noticed  it  till  this  moment) , 

she  turned  it  from  one  guest  to  another,  until 
11 


160  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

each  had  felt  it  pointed  at  himself.  Beautiful 
as  her  face  was,  and  though  there  was  a  smile 
on  it,  it  looked  just  as  wicked  and  mischievous 
as  the  ugliest  serpent  that  ever  was  seen;  and 
fat-witted  as  the  voyagers  had  made  themselves, 
they  began  to  suspect  that  they  had  fallen  into 
the  power  of  an  evil-minded  enchantress. 

"Wretches,"  cried  she,  "you  have  abused  a 
lady's  hospitality;  and  in  this  princely  saloon 
your  behavior  has  been  suited  to  a  hogpen. 
You  are  already  swine  in  everything  but  the 
human  form,  which  you  disgrace,  and  which  I 
myself  should  be  ashamed  to  keep  a  moment 
longer,  were  you  to  share  it  with  me.  But 
it  will  require  only  the  slightest  exercise 
of  magic  to  make  the  exterior  conform  to 
the  hoggish  disposition.  Assume  your  proper 
shapes,  gormandizers,  and  begone  to  the 
sty!" 

Uttering  these  last  words,  she  waved  her 
wand;  and  stamping  her  foot  imperiously,  each 
of  the  guests  was  struck  aghast  at  beholding, 
instead  of  his  comrades  in  human  shape,  one 
and  twenty  hogs  sitting  on  the  same  number 
of  golden  thrones.  Each  man  (as  he  still 
supposed  himself  to  be)  essayed  to  give  a  cry 
of  surprise,  but  found  that  he  could  merely 
grunt,  and  that,  in  a  word,  he  was  just  such 
another  beast  as  his  companions.  It  looked  so 
intolerably  absurd  to  see  hogs  on  cushioned 


//  looked 


so  intolerably  absurd  to  see  hogs  on  cushioned  thrones 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  161 

thrones,  that  they  made  haste  to  wallow  down 
upon  all  fours,  like  other  swine.  They  tried  to 
groan  and  beg  for  mercy,  but  forthwith  emitted 
the  most  awful  grunting  and  squealing  that 
ever  came  out  of  swinish  throats.  They  would 
have  wrung  their  hands  in  despair,  but,  attempt- 
ing to  do  so,  grew  all  the  more  desperate  for 
seeing  themselves  squatted  on  their  hams,  and 
pawing  the  air  with  their  fore  trotters.  Dear 
me!  what  pendulous  ears  they  had!  what  little 
red  eyes,  half  buried  in  fat!  and  what  long 
snouts,  instead  of  Grecian  noses ! 

But  brutes  as  they  certainly  were,  they  yet 
had  enough  of  human  nature  in  them  to  be 
shocked  at  their  own  hideousness;  and  still 
intending  to  groan,  they  uttered  a  viler  grunt 
and  squeal  than  before.  So  harsh  and  ear- 
piercing  it  was,  that  you  would  have  fancied  a 
butcher  was  sticking  his  knife  into  each  of  their 
throats,  or,  at  the  very  least,  that  somebody 
was  pulling  every  hog  by  his  funny  little  twist 
of  a  tail. 

"  Begone  to  your  sty!"  cried  the  enchantress, 
giving  them  some  smart  strokes  with  her  wand ; 
and  then  she  turned  to  the  serving  men — 
"  Drive  out  these  swine,  and  throw  down  some 
acorns  for  them  to  eat." 

The  door  of  the  saloon  being  flung  open,  the 
drove  of  hogs  ran  in  all  directions  save  the  right 
one,  in  accordance  with  their  hoggish  perversity, 


162  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

but  were  finally  driven  into  the  back  yard  of  the 
palace.  It  was  a  sight  to  bring  tears  into  one's 
eyes  (and  I  hope  none  of  you  will  be  cruel  enough 
to  laugh  at  it),  to  see  the  poor  creatures  go 
snuffing  along,  picking  up  here  a  cabbage  leaf 
and  there  a  turnip  top,  and  rooting  their  noses 
in  the  earth  for  whatever  they  could  find.  In 
their  sty,  moreover,  they  hehaved  more  piggishly 
than  the  pigs  that  had  been  born  so;  for  they 
bit  and  snorted  at  one  another,  put  their  feet 
in  the  trough,  and  gobbled  up  their  victuals  in  a 
ridiculous  hurry;  and,  when  there  was  nothing 
more  to  be  had,  they  made  a  great  pile  of  them- 
selves among  some  unclean  straw,  and  fell  fast 
asleep.  If  they  had  any  human  reason  left,  it 
was  just  enough  to  keep  them  wondering  when 
they  should  be  slaughtered,  and  what  quality 
of  bacon  they  should  make. 

Meantime,  as  I  told  you  before,  Eurylochus 
had  waited,  and  waited,  and  waited,  in  the 
entrance  hall  of  the  palace,  without  being  able 
to  comprehend  what  had  befallen  his  friends. 
At  last,  when  the  swinish  uproar  resounded 
through  the  palace,  and  when  he  saw  the  image 
of  a  hog  in  the  marble  basin,  he  thought  it  best 
to  hasten  back  to  the  vessel,  and  inform  the 
wise  Ulysses  of  these  marvelous  occurrences. 
So  he  ran  as  fast  as  he  could  down  the  steps, 
and  never  stopped  to  draw  breath  till  he  reached 
the  shore. 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  163 

"Why  do  you  come  alone?"  asked  King 
Ulysses,  as  soon  as  he  saw  him.  "Where  are 
your  two  and  twenty  comrades?" 

At  these  questions,  Eurylochus  burst  into  tears. 

"  Alas! "  he  cried,  "  I  greatly  fear  that  we  shall 
never  see  one  of  their  faces  again." 

Then  he  told  Ulysses  all  that  had  happened, 
as  far  as  he  knew  it,  and  added  that  he  sus- 
pected the  beautiful  woman  to  be  a  vile  en- 
chantress, and  the  marble  palace,  magnificent 
as  it  looked,  to  be  only  a  dismal  cavern  in  reality. 
As  for  his  companions,  he  could  not  imagine 
what  had  become  of  them,  unless  they  had  been 
given  to  the  swine  to  be  devoured  alive.  At 
this  intelligence,  all  the  voyagers  were  greatly 
affrighted.  But  Ulysses  lost  no  time  in  girding 
on  his  sword,  and  hanging  his  bow  and  quiver 
over  his  shoulders,  and  taking  a  spear  in  his 
right  hand.  When  his  followers  saw  their  wise 
leader  making  these  preparations,  they  inquired 
whither  he  was  going,  and  earnestly  besought 
him  not  to  leave  them. 

"You  are  our  king,"  cried  they;  "and  what 
is  more,  you  are  the  wisest  man  in  the  whole 
world,  and  nothing  but  your  wisdom  and  cour- 
age can  get  us  out  of  this  danger.  If  you  desert 
us,  and  go  to  the  enchanted  palace,  you  will 
suffer  the  same  fate  as  our  poor  companions, 
and  not  a  soul  of  us  will  ever  see  our  dear 
Ithaca  again." 


1 64  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"As  I  am  your  king,"  answered  Ulysses, 
"  and  wiser  than  any  of  you,  it  is  therefore  the 
more  my  duty  to  see  what  has  befallen  our 
comrades,  and  whether  anything  can  yet  be  done 
to  rescue  them.  Wait  for  me  here  until  to- 
morrow. If  I  do  not  then  return,  you  must 
hoist  sail,  and  endeavor  to  find  your  way  to 
our  native  land.  For  my  part,  I  am  answerable 
for  the  fate  of  these  poor  mariners,  who  have 
stood  by  my  side  in  battle,  and  been  so  often 
drenched  to  the  skin,  along  with  me,  by  the 
same  tempestuous  surges.  I  will  either  bring 
them  back  with  me,  or  perish." 

Had  his  followers  dared,  they  would  have 
detained  him  by  force.  But  King  Ulysses 
frowned  sternly  on  them,  and  shook  his  spear, 
and  bade  them  stop  him  at  their  peril.  Seeing 
him  so  determined,  they  let  him  go,  and  sat 
down  on  the  sand,  as  disconsolate  a  set  of 
people  as  could  be,  waiting  and  praying  for  his 
return. 

It  happened  to  Ulysses,  just  as  before,  that, 
when  he  had  gone  a  few  steps  from  the  edge  of 
the  cliff,  the  purple  bird  came  fluttering  towards 
him,  crying,  "Peep,  peep,  pe — weep!"  and 
using  all  the  art  it  could  to  persuade  him  to  go 
no  farther. 

"What  mean  you,  little  bird?"  cried  Ulysses. 
"You  are  arrayed  like  a  king  in  purple  and 
gold,  and  wear  a  golden  crown  upon  your  head. 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  165 

Is  it  because  I  too  am  a  king,  that  you  desire 
so  earnestly  to  speak  with  me?  If  you  can 
talk  in  human  language,  say  what  you  would 
have  me  do." 

"Peep!"  answered  the  purple  bird,  very 
dolorously.  "Peep,  peep,  pe — we — ep!" 

Certainly  there  lay  some  heavy  anguish  at  the 
little  bird's  heart;  and  it  was  a  sorrowful 
predicament  that  he  could  not,  at  least,  have 
the  consolation  of  telling  what  it  was.  But 
Ulysses  had  no  time  to  waste  in  trying  to  get  at 
the  mystery.  He  therefore  quickened  his  pace, 
and  had  gone  a  good  way  along  tlje  pleasant 
wood  path,  when  there  met  him  a  young  man  of 
very  brisk  and  intelligent  aspect,  and  clad  in  a 
rather  singular  garb.  He  wore  a  short  cloak 
and  a  sort  of  cap  that  seemed  to  be  furnished 
with  a  pair  of  wings;  and  from  the  lightness  of 
his  step,  you  would  have  supposed  that  there 
might  likewise  be  wings  on  his  feet.  To  enable 
him  to  walk  still  better  (for  he  was  always  on 
one  journey  or  another)  he  carried  a  winged 
staff,  around  which  two  serpents  were  wriggling 
and  twisting.  In  short,  I  have  said  enough  to 
make  you  guess  that  it  was  Quicksilver;  and 
Ulysses  (who  knew  him  of  old,  and  had  learned 
a  great  deal  of  his  wisdom  from  him)  recognized 
him  in  a  moment. 

"Whither  are  you  going  in  such  a  hurry, 
wise  Ulysses?"  asked  Quicksilver.  "Do  you 


1 66  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

not  know  that  this  island  is  enchanted?  The 
wicked  enchantress  (whose  name  is  Circe,  the 
sister  of  King  ^Eetes)  dwells  in  the  marble  palace 
which  you  see  yonder  among  the  trees.  By  her 
magic  arts  she  changes  every  human  being  into 
the  brute,  beast,  or  fowl  whom  he  happens  most 
to  resemble." 

"That  little  bird,  which  met  me  at  the  edge 
of  the  cliff,"  exclaimed  Ulysses;  "was  he  a 
human  being  once?" 

"  Yes,"  answered  Quicksilver.  "  He  was  once 
a  king,  named  Picus,  and  a  pretty  good  sort  of  a 
king,  too,  only  rather  too  proud  of  his  purple 
robe,  and  his  crown,  and  the  golden  chain  about 
his  neck;  so  he  was  forced  to  take  the  shape 
of  a  gaudy-feathered  bird.  The  lions,  and 
wolves,  and  tigers,  who  will  come  running  to 
meet  you,  in  front  of  the  palace,  were  formerly 
fierce  and  cruel  men,  resembling  in  their  dis- 
positions the  wild  beasts  whose  forms  they  now 
rightfully  wear . ' ' 

"And  my  poor  companions,"  said  Ulysses. 
"  Have  they  undergone  a  similar  change,  through 
the  arts  of  this  wicked  Circe?" 

"You  well  know  what  gormandizers  they 
were,"  replied  Quicksilver;  and  rogue  that  he 
was,  he  could  not  help  laughing  at  the 
joke.  "So  you  will  not  be  surprised  to  hear 
that  they  have  all  taken  the  shapes  of  swine! 
If  Circe  had  never  done  anything  worse,  I 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  167 

really  should  not  think  her  so  very  much  to 
blame." 

"But  can  I  do  nothing  to  help  them?" 
inquired  Ulysses. 

"  It  will  require  all  your  wisdom,"  said  Quick- 
silver, "  and  a  little  of  my  own  into  the  bargain, 
to  keep  your  royal  and  sagacious  self  from  being 
transformed  into  a  fox.  But  do  as  I  bid  you; 
and  the  matter  may  end  better  than  it  has 
begun." 

While  he  was  speaking,  Quicksilver  seemed  to 
be  in  search  of  something;  he  went  stooping 
along  the  ground,  and  soon  laid  his  hand  on  a 
little  plant  with  a  snow-white  flower,  which  he 
plucked  and  smelt  of.  Ulysses  had  been  look- 
ing at  that  very  spot  only  just  before;  and  it 
appeared  to  him  that  the  plant  had  burst  into 
full  flower  the  instant  when  Quicksilver  touched 
it  with  his  fingers. 

"Take  this  flower,  King  Ulysses,"  said  he. 
"Guard  it  as  you  do  your  eyesight;  for  I  can 
assure  you  it  is  exceedingly  rare  and  precious, 
and  you  might  seek  the  whole  earth  over  without 
ever  finding  another  like  it.  Keep  it  in  your 
hand,  and  smell  of  it  frequently  after  you  enter 
the  palace,  and  while  you  are  talking  with  the 
enchantress.  Especially  when  she  offers  you 
food,  or  a  draught  of  wine  out  of  her  goblet,  be 
careful  to  fill  your  nostrils  with  the  flower's 
fragrance.  Follow  these  directions,  and  you 


i68  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

may  defy  her  magic  arts  to  change  you  into  a 
fox." 

Quicksilver  then  gave  him  some  further  advice 
how  to  behave,  and  bidding  him  be  bold  and 
prudent,  again  assured  him  that,  powerful  as 
Circe  was,  he  would  have  a  fair  prospect  of 
coming  safely  out  of  her  enchanted  palace. 
After  listening  attentively,  Ulysses  thanked  his 
good  friend,  and  resumed  his  way.  But  he  had 
taken  only  a  few  steps,  when,  recollecting  some 
other  questions  which  he  wished  to  ask,  he 
turned  round  again,  and  beheld  nobody  on  the 
spot  where  Quicksilver  had  stood;  for  that 
winged  cap  of  his,  and  those  winged  shoes,  with 
the  help  of  the  winged  staff,  had  carried  him 
quickly  out  of  sight. 

When  Ulysses  reached  the  lawn,  in  front  of 
the  palace,  the  lions  and  other  savage  animals 
came  bounding  to  meet  him,  and  would  have 
fawned  upon  him  and  licked  his  feet.  But  the 
wise  king  struck  at  them  with  his  long  spear, 
and  sternly  bade  them  begone  out  of  his  path; 
for  he  knew  that  they  had  once  been  blood- 
thirsty men,  and  would  now  tear  him  limb  from 
limb,  instead  of  fawning  upon  him,  could  they 
do  the  mischief  that  was  in  their  hearts.  The 
wild  beasts  yelped  and  glared  at  him,  and  stood 
at  a  distance,  while  he  ascended  the  palace  steps. 

On  entering  the  hall,  Ulysses  saw  the  magic 
fountain  in  the  center  of  it.  The  up-gushing 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  169 

water  had  now  again  taken  the  shape  of  a  man 
in  a  long,  white,  fleecy  robe,  who  appeared  to 
be  making  gestures  of  welcome.  The  king  like- 
wise heard  the  noise  of  the  shuttle  in  the  loom 
and  the  sweet  melody  of  the  beautiful  woman's 
song,  and  then  the  pleasant  voices  of  herself 
and  the  four  maidens  talking  together,  with 
peals  of  merry  laughter  intermixed.  But  Ulysses 
did  not  waste  much  time  in  listening  to  the 
laughter  or  the  song.  He  leaned  his  spear 
against  one  of  the  pillars  of  the  hall,  and  then, 
after  loosening  his  sword  in  the  scabbard, 
stepped  boldly  forward,  and  threw  the  folding 
doors  wide  open.  The  moment  she  beheld  his 
stately  figure  standing  in  the  doorway,  the 
beautiful  woman  rose  from  the  loom,  and  ran 
to  meet  him  with  a  glad  smile  throwing  its 
sunshine  over  her  face,  and  both  her  hands 
extended. 

"  Welcome,  brave  stranger ! "  cried  she.  "  We 
were  expecting  you." 

And  the  nymph  with  the  sea-green  hair  made 
a  courtesy  down  to  the  ground,  and  likewise 
bade  him  welcome;  so  did  her  sister  with  the 
bodice  of  oaken  bark,  and  she  that  sprinkled 
dew-drops  from  her  fingers'  ends,  and  the  fourth 
one  with  some  oddity  which  I  cannot  remember. 
And  Circe,  as  the  beautiful  enchantress  was 
called  (who  had  deluded  so  many  persons  that 
she  did  not  doubt  of  being  able  to  delude 


1 7o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Ulysses,  not  imagining  how  wise  he  was),  again 
addressed  him : 

"Your  companions,"  said  she,  "have  already 
been  received  into  my  palace,  and  have  enjoyed 
the  hospitable  treatment  to  which  the  propriety 
of  their  behavior  so  well  entitles  them.  If 
such  be  your  pleasure,  you  shall  first  take  some 
refreshment,  and  then  join  them  in  the  elegant 
apartment  which  they  now  occupy.  See,  I  and 
my  maidens  have  been  weaving  their  figures 
into  this  piece  of  tapestry." 

She  pointed  to  the  web  of  beautifully-woven 
cloth  in  the  loom.  Circe  and  the  four  nymphs 
must  have  been  very  diligently  at  work  since 
the  arrival  of  the  mariners;  for  a  great  many 
yards  of  tapestry  had  now  been  wrought,  in 
addition  to  what  I  before  described.  In  this 
new  part,  Ulysses  saw  his  two  and  twenty 
friends  represented  as  sitting  on  cushions  and 
canopied  thrones,  greedily  devouring  dainties, 
and  quaffing  deep  draughts  of  wine.  The  work 
had  not  yet  gone  any  further.  O,  no,  indeed. 
The  enchantress  was  far  too  cunning  to  let 
Ulysses  see  the  mischief  which  her  magic  arts 
had  since  brought  upon  the  gormandizers. 

"As  for  yourself,  valiant  sir,"  said  Circe, 
"judging  by  the  dignity  of  your  aspect,  I  take 
you  to  be  nothing  less  than  a  king.  Deign  to 
follow  me,  and  you  shall  be  treated  as  befits 
your  rank." 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  171 

So  Ulysses  followed  her  into  the  oval  saloon, 
where  his  two  and  twenty  comrades  had  de- 
voured the  banquet,  which  ended  so  disastrously 
for  themselves.  But,  all  this  while,  he  had  held 
the  snow-white  flower  in  his  hand,  and  had  con- 
stantly smelt  of  it  while  Circe  was  speaking ;  and 
as  he  crossed  the  threshold  of  the  saloon,  he 
took  good  care  to  inhale  several  long  and  deep 
snuffs  of  its  fragrance.  Instead  of  two  and 
twenty  thrones,  which  had  before  been  ranged 
around  the  wall,  there  was  now  only  a  single 
throne,  in  the  center  of  the  apartment.  But  this 
was  surely  the  most  magnificent  seat  that  ever  a 
king  or  an  emperor  reposed  himself  upon,  all 
made  of  chased  gold,  studded  with  precious 
stones,  with  a  cushion  that  looked  like  a  soft 
heap  of  living  roses,  and  overhung  by  a  canopy 
of  sunlight  which  Circe  knew  how  to  weave  into 
drapery.  The  enchantress  took  Ulysses  by  the 
hand,  and  made  him  sit  down  upon  this  dazzling 
throne.  Then,  clapping  her  hands,  she  sum- 
moned the  chief  butler. 

"Bring  hither,"  said  she,  "the  goblet  that 
is  set  apart  for  kings  to  drink  out  of.  And  fill  it 
with  the  same  delicious  wine  which  my  royal 
brother,  King  ^Eetes,  praised  so  highly,  when  he 
last  visited  me  with  my  fair  daughter  Medea. 
That  good  and  amiable  child!  Were  she  now 
here,  it  would  delight  her  to  see  me  offering 
this  wine  to  my  honored  guest." 


1 72  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

But  Ulysses,  while  the  butler  was  gone  for 
the  wine,  held  the  snow-white  flower  to  his 
nose. 

"  Is  it  a  wholesome  wine? "  he  asked. 

At  this  the  four  maidens  tittered;  where- 
upon the  enchantress  looked  round  at  them, 
with  an  aspect  of  severity. 

"It  is  the  wholesomest  juice  that  ever  was 
squeezed  out  of  the  grape,"  said  she;  "for, 
instead  of  disguising  a  man,  as  other  liquor  is 
apt  to  do,  it  brings  him  to  his  true  self,  and 
shows  him  as  he  ought  to  be." 

The  chief  butler  liked  nothing  better  than  to 
see  people  turned  into  swine,  or  making  any 
kind  of  a  beast  of  themselves;  so  he  made 
haste  to  bring  the  royal  goblet,  filled  with  a 
liquid  as  bright  as  gold,  and  which  kept  spark- 
ling upward,  and  throwing  a  sunny  spray  over 
the  brim.  But,  delightfully  as  the  wine  looked, 
it  was  mingled  with  the  most  potent  enchant- 
ments that  Circe  knew  how  to  concoct.  For 
every  drop  of  the  pure  grape  juice  there  were 
two  drops  of  the  pure  mischief;  and  the  danger 
of  the  thing  was,  that  the  mischief  made  it 
taste  all  the  better.  The  mere  smell  of  the 
bubbles,  which  effervesced  at  the  brim,  was 
enough  to  turn  a  man's  beard  into  pig's  bristles, 
or  make  a  lion's  claws  grow  out  of  his  ringers, 
or  a  fox's  brush  behind  him. 

"Drink,  my  noble  guest,"  said  Circe,  smiling, 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  173 

as  she  presented  him  with  the  goblet.  "You 
will  find  in  this  draught  a  solace  for  all  your 
troubles." 

King  Ulysses  took  the  goblet  with  his  right 
hand,  while  with  his  left  he  held  the  snow-white 
flower  to  his  nostrils,  and  drew  in  so  long  a 
breath  that  his  lungs  were  quite  filled  with  its 
pure  and  simple  fragrance.  Then,  drinking  off 
all  the  wine,  he  looked  the  enchantress  calmly 
in  the  face. 

"Wretch,"  cried  Circe,  giving  him  a  smart 
stroke  with  her  wand,  "  how  dare  you  keep  your 
human  shape  a  moment  longer!  Take  the 
form  of  the  brute  whom  you  most  resemble.  If 
a  hog,  go  join  your  fellow-swine  in  the  sty;  if  a 
lion,  a  wolf,  a  tiger,  go  howl  with  the  wild  beasts 
on  the  lawn;  if  a  fox,  go  exercise  your  craft  in 
stealing  poultry.  Thou  hast  quaffed  off  my 
wine,  and  canst  be  man  no  longer." 

But,  such  was  the  virtue  of  the  snow-white 
flower,  instead  of  wallowing  down  from  his 
throne  in  swinish  shape,  or  taking  any  other 
brutal  form,  Ulysses  looked  even  more  manly 
and  king-like  than  before.  He  gave  the  magic 
goblet  a  toss,  and  sent  it  clashing  over  the  marble 
floor  to  the  farthest  end  of  the  saloon.  Then, 
drawing  his  sword,  he  seized  the  enchantress  by 
her  beautiful  ringlets,  and  made  a  gesture  as  if 
he  meant  to  strike  off  her  head  at  one  blow. 

"Wicked  Circe,"  cried  he,  in  a  terrible  voice, 


i74  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"this  sword  shall  put  an  end  to  thy  enchant- 
ments. Thou  shalt  die,  vile  wretch,  and  do  no 
more  mischief  in  the  world,  by  tempting  human 
beings  into  the  vices  which  make  beasts  of  them." 

The  tone  and  countenance  of  Ulysses  were  so 
awful,  and  his  sword  gleamed  so  brightly,  and 
seemed  to  have  so  intolerably  keen  an  edge, 
that  Circe  was  almost  killed  by  the  mere  fright, 
without  waiting  for  a  blow.  The  chief  butler 
scrambled  out  of  the  saloon,  picking  up  the  golden 
goblet  as  he  went;  and  the  enchantress  and 
the  four  maidens  fell  on  their  knees,  wringing 
their  hands,  and  screaming  for  mercy. 

"Spare  me!"  cried  Circe.  "Spare  me,  royal 
and  wise  Ulysses.  For  now  I  know  that  thou 
art  he  of  whom  Quicksilver  forewarned  me,  the 
most  prudent  of  mortals,  against  whom  no 
enchantments  can  prevail.  Thou  only  couldst 
have  conquered  Circe.  Spare  me,  wisest  of 
men.  I  will  show  thee  true  hospitality,  and 
even  give  myself  to  be  thy  slave,  and  this  mag- 
nificent palace  to  be  henceforth  thy  home." 

The  four  nymphs,  meanwhile,  were  making  a 
most  piteous  ado;  and  especially  the  ocean 
nymph,  with  the  sea-green  hair,  wept  a  great 
deal  of  salt  water,  and  the  fountain  nymph, 
besides  scattering  dewdrops  from  her  fingers' 
ends,  nearly  melted  away  into  tears.  But 
Ulysses  would  not  be  pacified  until  Circe  had 
taken  a  solemn  oath  to  change  back  his 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  175 

companions,  and  as  many  others  as  he  should 
direct,  from  their  present  forms  of  beast  or 
bird  into  their  former  shapes  of  men. 

"On  these  conditions,"  said  he,  "I  consent 
to  spare  your  life.  Otherwise  you  must  die 
upon  the  spot." 

With  a  drawn  sword  hanging  over  her,  the 
enchantress  would  readily  have  consented  to  do 
as  much  good  as  she  had  hitherto  done  mischief, 
however  little  she  might  like  such  employment. 
She  therefore  led  Ulysses  out  of  the  back 
entrance  of  the  palace,  and  showed  him  the 
swine  in  their  sty.  There  were  about  fifty  of 
these  unclean  beasts  in  the  whole  herd;  and 
though  the  greater  part  were  hogs  by  birth 
and  education,  there  was  wonderfully  little 
difference  to  be  seen  betwixt  them  and  their 
new  brethren,  who  had  so  recently  worn  the 
human  shape.  To  speak  critically,  indeed, 
the  latter  rather  carried  the  thing  to  excess, 
and  seemed  to  make  it  a  point  to  wallow  in  the 
miriest  part  of  the  sty,  and  otherwise  to  outdo 
the  original  swine  in  their  own  natural  vocation. 
When  men  once  turn  to  brutes,  the  trifle  of 
man's  wit  that  remains  in  them  adds  tenfold  to 
their  brutality. 

The  comrades  of  Ulysses,  however,  had  not 
quite  lost  the  remembrance  of  having  formerly 
stood  erect.  When  he  approached  the  sty,  two 
and  twenty  enormous  swine  separated  themselves 

12 


i76  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

from  the  herd,  and  scampered  towards  him, 
with  such  a  chorus  of  horrible  squealing  as 
made  him  clap  both  hands  to  his  ears.  And  yet 
they  did  not  seem  to  know  what  they  wanted, 
nor  whether  they  were  merely  hungry,  or  miser- 
able from  some  other  cause.  It  was  curious,  in 
the  midst  of  their  distress,  to  observe  them 
thrusting  their  noses  into  the  mire,  in  quest  of 
something  to  eat.  The  nymph  with  the  bodice 
of  oaken  bark  (she  was  the  hamadryad  of  an 
oak)  threw  a  handful  of  acorns  among  them; 
and  the  two  and  twenty  hogs  scrambled  and 
fought  for  the  prize,  as  if  they  had  tasted  not 
so  much  as  a  noggin  of  sour  milk  for  a  twelve- 
month. 

"These  must  certainly  be  my  comrades,"  said 
Ulysses.  "  I  recognize  their  dispositions.  They 
are  hardly  worth  the  trouble  of  changing  them 
into  the  human  form  again.  Nevertheless,  we 
will  have  it  done,  lest  their  bad  example  should 
corrupt  the  other  hogs.  Let  them  take  their 
original  shapes,  therefore,  Dame  Circe,  if  your 
skill  is  equal  to  the  task.  It  will  require 
greater  magic,  I  trow,  than  it  did  to  make  swine 
of  them." 

So  Circe  waved  her  wand  again,  and  repeated 
a  few  magic  words,  at  the  sound  of  which  the 
two  and  twenty  hogs  pricked  up  their  pendulous 
ears.  It  was  a  wonder  to  behold  how  their 
snouts  grew  shorter  and  shorter,  and  their 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  177 

mouths  (which  they  seemed  to  be  sorry  for, 
because  they  could  not  gobble  so  expeditiously) 
smaller  and  smaller,  and  how  one  and  another 
began  to  stand  upon  his  hind  legs,  and  scratch 
his  nose  with  his  fore  trotters.  At  first  the 
spectators  hardly  knew  whether  to  call  them 
hogs  or  men,  but  by  and  by  came  to  the  con- 
clusion that  they  rather  resembled  the  latter. 
Finally,  there  stood  the  twenty- two  comrades  of 
Ulysses,  looking  pretty  much  the  same  as  when 
they  left  the  vessel. 

You  must  not  imagine,  however,  that  the 
swinish  quality  had  entirely  gone  out  of  them. 
When  once  it  fastens  itself  into  a  person's 
character,  it  is  very  difficult  getting  rid  of  it. 
This  was  proved  by  the  hamadryad,  who,  being 
exceedingly  fond  of  mischief,  threw  another 
handful  of  acorns  before  the  twenty-two  newly- 
restored  people ;  whereupon  down  they  wallowed 
in  a  moment,  and  gobbled  them  up  in  a  very 
shameful  way.  Then,  recollecting  themselves, 
they  scrambled  to  their  feet,  and  looked  more 
than  commonly  foolish. 

"Thanks,  noble  Ulysses!"  they  cried. 
"From  brute  beasts  you  have  restored  us  to 
the  condition  of  men  again." 

"  Do  not  put  yourselves  to  the  trouble  of 
thanking  me,"  said  the  wise  king.  "I  fear  I 
have  done  but  little  for  you." 

To  say  the  truth,  there  was  a  suspicious  kind 


i78  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

of  a  grunt  in  their  voices,  and,  for  a  long  time 
afterwards,  they  spoke  gruffly,  and  were  apt  to 
set  up  a  squeal. 

"It  must  depend  on  your  own  future  be- 
havior," added  Ulysses,  "whether  you  do  not 
find  your  way  back  to  the  sty." 

At  this  moment,  the  note  of  a  bird  sounded 
from  the  branch  of  a  neighboring  tree. 

"Peep,  peep,  pe — wee — ep!" 

It  was  the  purple  bird,  who,  all  this  while, 
had  been  sitting  over  their  heads,  watching  what 
was  going  forward,  and  hoping  that  Ulysses 
would  remember  how  he  had  done  his  utmost 
to  keep  him  and  his  followers  out  of  harm's 
way.  Ulysses  ordered  Circe  instantly  to  make 
a  king  of  this  good  little  fowl,  and  leave  him 
exactly  as  she  found  him.  Hardly  were  the 
words  spoken,  and  before  the  bird  had  time  to 
utter  another  "pe — weep,"  King  Picus  leaped 
down  from  the  bough  of  a  tree,  as  majestic  a 
sovereign  as  any  in  the  world,  dressed  in  a  long 
purple  robe  and  gorgeous  yellow  stockings,  with 
a  splendidly  wrought  collar  about  his  neck, 
and  a  golden  crown  upon  his  head.  He  and 
King  Ulysses  exchanged  with  one  another  the 
courtesies  which  belong  to  their  elevated  rank. 
But  from  that  time  forth,  King  Picus  was  no 
longer  proud  of  his  crown  and  his  trappings  of 
royalty,  nor  of  the  fact  of  his  being  a  king;  he 
felt  himself  merely  the  upper  servant  of  his 


CIRCE'S  PALACE.  179 

people,  and  that  it  must  be  his  life-long  labor 
to  make  them  better  and  happier. 

As  for  the  lions,  tigers,  and  wolves  (though 
Circe  would  have  restored  them  to  their  former 
shapes  at  his  slightest  word) ,  Ulysses  thought  it 
advisable  that  they  should  remain  as  they  now 
were,  and  thus  give  warning  of  their  cruel  dis- 
positions, instead  of  going  about  under  the 
guise  of  men,  and  pretending  to  human  sym- 
pathies, while  their  hearts  had  the  blood- 
thirstiness  of  wild  beasts.  So  he  let  them  howl 
as  much  as  they  liked,  but  never  troubled  his 
head  about  them.  And,  when  everything  was 
settled  according  to  his  pleasure,  he  sent  to 
summon  the  remainder  of  his  comrades,  whom 
he  had  left  at  the  sea-shore.  These  being 
arrived,  with  the  prudent  Eurylochus  at  their 
head,  they  all  made  themselves  comfortable  in 
Circe's  enchanted  palace,  until  quite  rested  and 
refreshed  from  the  toils  and  hardships  of  their 
voyage. 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS. 

Mother  Ceres  was  exceedingly  fond  of  her 
daughter  Proserpina,  and  seldom  let  her  go 
alone  into  the  fields.  But,  just  at  the  time  when 
my  story  begins,  the  good  lady  was  very  busy, 
because  she  had  the  care  of  the  wheat,  and  the 
Indian  corn,  and  the  rye  and  barley  and,  in 
short,  of  the  crops  of  every  kind,  all  over  the 
earth ;  and  as  the  season  had  thus  far  been  uncom- 
monly backward,  it  was  necessary  to  make  the 
harvest  ripen  more  speedily  than  usual.  So 
she  put  on  her  turban,  made  of  poppies  (a  kind 
of  flower  which  she  was  always  noted  for  wear- 
ing), and  got  into  her  car  drawn  by  a  pair  of 
winged  dragons,  and  was  just  ready  to  set  off. 

"Dear  mother,"  said  Proserpina,  "I  shall  be 
very  lonely  while  you  are  away.  May  I  not  run 
down  to  the  shore,  and  ask  some  of  the  sea 
nymphs  to  come  up  out  of  the  waves  and  play 
with  me?" 

"Yes,  child,"  answered  Mother  Ceres.  "The 
sea  nymphs  are  good  creatures,  and  will  never 
lead  you  into  any  harm.  But  you  must  take 
care  not  to  stray  away  from  them,  nor  go 

1 80 


-Lfe  &  7^ 


".*», 


The  child  besought  them  to  go  with  her  a  little  ivay  into  the  fields 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       181 

wandering  about  the  fields  by  yourself.  Young 
girls,  without  their  mothers  to  take  care  of 
them,  are  very  apt  to  get  into  mischief." 

The  child  promised  to  be  as  prudent  as  if 
she  were  a  grown-up  woman;  and,  by  the 
time  the  winged  dragons  had  whirled  the  car 
out  of  sight,  she  was  already  on  the  shore,  call- 
ing to  the  sea  nymphs  to  come  and  play  with 
her.  They  knew  Proserpina's  voice,  and  were 
not  long  in  showing  their  glistening  faces  and 
sea-green  hair  above  the  water,  at  the  bottom 
of  which  was  their  home.  They  brought  along 
with  them  a  great  many  beautiful  shells;  and 
sitting  down  on  the  moist  sand,  where  the  surf 
wave  broke  over  them,  they  busied  themselves 
in  making  a  necklace,  which  they  hung  round 
Proserpina's  neck.  By  way  of  showing  her 
gratitude,  the  child  besought ,  them  to  go  with 
her  a  little  way  into  the  fields,  so  that  they 
might  gather  abundance  of  flowers,  with  which 
she  would  make  each  of  her  kind  playmates  a 
wreath. 

"O  no,  dear  Proserpina,"  cried  the  sea 
nymphs;  "we  dare  not  go  with  you  upon  the 
dry  land.  We  are  apt  to  grow  faint,  unless  at 
every  breath  we  can  snuff  up  the  salt  breeze 
of  the  ocean.  And  don't  you  see  how  careful 
we  are  to  let  the  surf  wave  break  over  us  every 
moment  or  two,  so  as  to  keep  ourselves  com- 
fortably moist?  If  it  were  not  for  that,  we 


182  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

should  look  like  bunches  of  uprooted  seaweed 
dried  in  the  sun. 

"It  is  a  great  pity,"  said  Proserpina.  "But 
do  you  wait  for  me  here,  and  I  will  run  and 
gather  my  apron  full  of  flowers,  and  be  back 
again  before  the  surf  wave  has  broken  ten  times 
over  you.  I  long  to  make  you  some  wreaths 
that  shall  be  as  lovely  as  this  necklace  of  many- 
colored  shells." 

"We  will  wait,  then,"  answered  the  sea 
nymphs.  "  But  while  you  are  gone,  we  may  as 
well  lie  down  on  a  bank  of  soft  sponge  under 
the  water.  The  air  to-day  is  a  little  too  dry 
for  our  comfort.  But  we  will  pop  up  our 
heads  every  few  minutes  to  see  if  you  are 
coming." 

The  young  Proserpina  ran  quickly  to  a  spot 
where,  only  the  day  before,  she  had  seen  a  great 
many  flowers.  These,  however,  were  now  a 
little  past  their  bloom;  and  wishing  to  give 
her  friends  the  freshest  and  loveliest  blossoms, 
she  strayed  farther  into  the  fields,  and  found 
some  that  made  her  scream  with  delight. 
Never  had  she  met  with  such  exquisite  flowers 
before — violets  so  large  and  fragrant — roses 
with  so  rich  and  delicate  a  blush — such  superb 
hyacinths  and  such  aromatic  pinks — and  many 
others,  some  of  which  seemed  to  be  of 
new  shapes  and  colors.  Two  or  three  times, 
moreover,  she  could  not  help  thinking  that  a 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       183 

tuft  of  most  splendid  flowers  had  suddenly 
sprouted  out  of  the  earth  before  her  very  eyes, 
as  if  on  purpose  to  tempt  her  a  few  steps  farther. 
Proserpina's  apron  was  soon  filled,  and  brim- 
ming over  with  delightful  blossoms.  She  was 
on  the  point  of  turning  back  in  order  to  rejoin 
the  sea  nymphs,  and  sit  with  them  on  the  moist 
sands,  all  twining  wreaths  together.  But,  a 
little  farther  on,  what  should  she  behold?  It 
was  a  large  shrub,  completely  covered  with  the 
most  magnificent  flowers  in  the  world. 

"The  darlings!"  cried  Proserpina;  and  then 
she  thought  to  herself,  "  I  was  looking  at  that 
spot  only  a  moment  ago.  How  strange  it  is 
that  I  did  not  see  the  flowers ! " 

The  nearer  she  approached  the  shrub,  the 
more  attractive  it  looked,  until  she  came  quite 
close  to  it;  and  then,  although  its  beauty  was 
richer  than  words  can  tell,  she  hardly  knew 
whether  to  like  it  or  not.  It  bore  above  a 
hundred  flowers  of  the  most  brilliant  hues,  and 
each  different  from  the  others,  but  all  having  a 
kind  of  resemblance  among  themselves,  which 
showed  them  to  be  sister  blossoms.  But  there 
was  a  deep,  glossy  luster  on  the  leaves  of  the 
shrub,  and  on  the  petals  of  the  flowers,  that 
made  Proserpina  doubt  whether  they  might  not 
be  poisonous.  To  tell  you  the  truth,  foolish  as 
it  may  seem,  she  was  half  inclined  to  turn  round 
and  run  away. 


184  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"What  a  silly  child  I  am!"  thought  she, 
taking  courage.  "  It  is  really  the  most  beautiful 
shrub  that  ever  sprang  out  of  the  earth.  I  will 
pull  it  up  by  the  roots,  and  carry  it  home,  and 
plant  it  in  my  mother's  garden." 

Holding  up  her  apron  full  of  flowers  with  her 
left  hand,  Proserpina  seized  the  large  shrub  with 
the  other,  and  pulled,  and  pulled,  but  was 
hardly  able  to  loosen  the  soil  about  its  roots. 
What  a  deep-rooted  plant  it  was!  Again  the 
girl  pulled  with  all  her  might,  and  observed  that 
the  earth  began  to  stir  and  crack  to  some  dis- 
tance around  the  stem.  She  gave  another  pull, 
but  relaxed  her  hold,  fancying  that  there  was  a 
rumbling  sound  right  beneath  her  feet.  Did  the 
roots  extend  down  into  some  enchanted  cavern  ? 
Then  laughing  at  herself  for  so  childish  a  notion, 
she  made  another  effort:  up  came  the  shrub, 
and  Proserpina  staggered  back,  holding  the 
stem  triumphantly  in  her  hand,  and  gazing  at 
the  deep  hole  which  its  roots  had  left  in  the  soil. 

Much  to  her  astonishment,  this  hole  kept 
spreading  wider  and  wider,  and  growing  deeper 
and  deeper,  until  it  really  seemed  to  have  no 
bottom;  and  all  the  while,  there  came  a  rum- 
bling noise  out  of  its  depths,  louder  and  louder, 
and  nearer  and  nearer,  and  sounding  like  the 
tramp  of  horses'  hoofs  and  the  rattling  of  wheels. 
Too  much  frightened  to  run  away,  she  stood 
straining  her  eyes  into  this  wonderful  cavity, 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       185 

and  soon  saw  a  team  of  four  sable  horses,  snort- 
ing smoke  out  of  their  nostrils,  and  tearing  their 
way  out  of  the  earth  with  a  splendid  golden 
chariot  whirling  at  their  heels.  They  leaped  out 
of  the  bottomless  hole,  chariot  and  all;  and 
there  they  were,  tossing  their  black  manes, 
nourishing  their  black  tails,  and  curvetting  with 
every  one  of  their  hoofs  off  the  ground  at  once, 
close  by  the  spot  where  Proserpina  stood.  In 
the  chariot  sat  the  figure  of  a  man,  richly  dressed, 
with  a  crown  on  his  head,  all  flaming  with 
diamonds.  He  was  of  a  noble  aspect,  and 
rather  handsome,  but  looked  sullen  and  discon- 
tented ;  and  he  kept  rubbing  his  eyes  and  shad- 
ing them  with  his  hand,  as  if  he  did  not  live 
enough  in  the  sunshine  to  be  very  fond  of  its 
light. 

As  soon  as  this  personage  saw  the  affrighted 
Proserpina,  he  beckoned  her  to  come  a  little 
nearer. 

"  Do  not  be  afraid,"  said  he,  with  as  cheerful  a 
smile  as  he  knew  how  to  put  on.  "Come! 
Will  you  not  like  to  ride  a  little  way  with  me,  in 
my  beautiful  chariot?" 

But  Proserpina  was  so  alarmed,  that  she 
wished  for  nothing  but  to  get  out  of  his  reach. 
And  no  wonder.  The  stranger  did  not  look 
remarkably  good-natured,  in  spite  of  his  smile; 
and  as  for  his  voice,  its  tones  were  deep  and 
stern,  and  sounded  as  much  like  the  rumbling 


i86  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

of  an  earthquake  underground  than  anything 
else.  As  is  always  the  case  with  children  in 
trouble,  Proserpina's  first  thought  was  to  call 
for  her  mother. 

"Mother,  Mother  Ceres!"  cried  she,  all  in  a 
tremble.  "Come  quickly  and  save  me.' 

But  her  voice  was  too  faint  for  her  mother  to 
hear.  Indeed,  it  is  most  probable  that  Ceres  was 
then  a  thousand  miles  off,  making  the  corn  grow 
in  some  far  distant  country.  Nor  could  it  have 
availed  her  poor  daughter,  even  had  she  been 
within  hearing;  for  no  sooner  did  Proserpina 
begin  to  cry  out,  than  the  stranger  leaped  to 
the  ground,  caught  the  child  in  his  arms,  and 
again  mounted  the  chariot,  shook  the  reins,  and 
shouted  to  the  four  black  horses  to  set  off.  They 
immediately  broke  into  so  swift  a  gallop,  that  it 
seemed  rather  like  flying  through  the  air  than 
running  along  the  earth.  In  a  moment,  Proser- 
pina lost  sight  of  the  pleasant  vale  of  Enna,  in 
which  she  had  always  dwelt.  Another  instant, 
and  even  the  summit  of  Mount  AZtna.  had 
become  so  blue  in  the  distance,  that  she  could 
scarcely  distinguish  it  from  the  smoke  that 
gushed  out  of  its  crater.  But  still  the  poor 
child  screamed,  and  scattered  her  apron  full  of 
flowers  along  the  way,  and  left  a  long  cry  trail- 
ing behind  the  chariot;  and  many  mothers,  to 
whose  ears  it  came,  ran  quickly  to  see  if  any 
mischief  had  befallen  their  children.  But  Mother 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       187 

Ceres  was  a  great  way  off,  and  could  not  hear 
the  cry. 

As  they  rode  on,  the  stranger  did  his  best  to 
soothe  her. 

"  Why  should  you  be  so  frightened,  my  pretty 
child?"  said  he,  trying  to  soften  his  rough 
voice.  I  promise  not  to  do  you  any  harm. 
What!  you  have  been  gathering  flowers?  Wait 
till  we  come  to  my  palace,  and  I  will  give  you  a 
garden  full  of  prettier  flowers  than  those,  all 
made  of  pearls,  and  diamonds,  and  rubies.  Can 
you  guess  who  I  am?  They  call  my  name 
Pluto;  and  I  am  the  king  of  diamonds  and  all 
other  precious  stones.  Every  atom  of  the  gold 
and  silver  that  lies  under  the  earth  belongs  to 
me,  to  say  nothing  of  the  copper  and  iron,  and 
of  the  coal  mines,  which  supply  me  with  abun- 
dance of  fuel.  Do  you  see  this  splendid  crown 
upon  my  head?  You  may  have  it  for  a  play- 
thing. O,  we  shall  be  very  good  friends,  and 
you  will  find  me  more  agreeable  than  you  expect, 
when  once  we  get  out  of  this  troublesome  sun- 
shine." 

"Let  me  go  home!"  cried  Proserpina.  "Let 
me  go  home!" 

"My  home  is  better  than  your  mother's," 
answered  King  Pluto.  "It  is  a  palace,  all 
made  of  gold,  with  crystal  windows;  and 
because  there  is  little  or  no  sunshine  there- 
abouts, the  apartments  are  illuminated  with 


1 88  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

diamond  lamps.  You  never  saw  anything  half 
so  magnificent  as  my  throne.  If  you  like,  you 
may  sit  down  on  it,  and  be  my  little  queen,  and 
I  will  sit  on  the  footstool." 

"  I  don't  care  for  golden  palaces  and  thrones," 
sobbed  Proserpina.  "Oh,  my  mother,  my 
mother!  Carry  me  back  to  my  mother! " 

But  King  Pluto,  as  he  called  himself,  only 
shouted  to  his  steeds  to  go  faster. 

"Pray  do  not  be  foolish,  Proserpina,"  said 
he,  in  rather  a  sullen  tone.  "  I  offer  you  my 
palace  and  my  crown,  and  all  the  riches  that 
are  under  the  earth;  and  you  treat  me  as  if 
I  were  doing  you  an  injury.  The  one  thing 
which  my  palace  needs  is  a  merry  little  maid,  to 
run  upstairs  and  down,  and  cheer  up  the  rooms 
with  her  smile.  And  this  is  what  you  must  do 
for  King  Pluto." 

"Never!"  answered  Proserpina,  looking  as 
miserable  as  she  could.  "I  shall  never  smile 
again  till  you  set  me  down  at  my  mother's  door." 

But  she  might  just  as  well  have  talked  to  the 
wind  that  whistled  past  them;  for  Pluto  urged 
on  his  horses,  and  went  faster  than  ever.  Pro- 
serpina continued  to  cry  out,  and  screamed  so 
long  and  so  loudly  that  her  poor  little  voice 
was  almost  screamed  away;  and  when  it  was 
nothing  but  a  whisper,  she  happened  to  cast  her 
eyes  over  a  great  broad  field  of  waving  grain — 
and  whom  do  you  think  she  saw?  Who,  but 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       189 

Mother  Ceres,  making  the  corn  grow,  and  too 
busy  to  notice  the  golden  chariot  as  it  went 
rattling  along.  The  child  mustered  all  her 
strength,  and  gave  one  more  scream,  but  was 
out  of  sight  before  Ceres  had  time  to  turn  her 
head. 

King  Pluto  had  taken  a  road  which  now 
began  to  grow  excessively  gloomy.  It  was 
bordered  on  each  side  with  rocks  and  preci- 
pices, between  which  the  rumbling  of  the  chariot 
wheels  was  reverberated  with  a  noise  like  rolling 
thunder.  The  trees  and  bushes  that  grew  in  the 
crevices  of  the  rocks  had  very  dismal  foliage; 
and  by  and  by,  although  it  was  hardly  noon,  the 
air  became  obscured  with  a  gray  twilight.  The 
black  horses  had  rushed  along  so  swiftly,  that 
they  were  already  beyond  the  limits  of  the 
sunshine.  But  the  duskier  it  grew,  the  more  did 
Pluto's  visage  assume  an  air  of  satisfaction. 
After  all,  he  was  not  an  ill-looking  person,  espe- 
cially when  he  left  off  twisting  his  features  into 
a  smile  that  did  not  belong  to  them.  Proser- 
pina peeped  at  his  face  through  the  gathering 
dusk,  and  hoped  that  he  might  not  be  so  very 
wicked  as  she  at  first  thought  him. 

"Ah,  this  twilight  is  truly  refreshing,"  said 
King  Pluto,  "  after  being  so  tormented  with  that 
ugly  and  impertinent  glare  of  the  sun.  How 
much  more  agreeable  is  lamplight  or  torchlight, 
more  particularly  when  reflected  from  diamonds ! 


i9o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

It  will  be  a  magnificent  sight,  when  we  get  to 
my  palace." 

"Is  is  much  farther?"  asked  Proserpina. 
"And  will  you  carry  me  back  when  I  have 
seen  it?" 

"We  will  talk  of  that  by  and  by,"  answered 
Pluto.  "We  are  just  entering  my  dominions. 
Do  you  see  that  tall  gateway  before  us?  When 
we  pass  those  gates,  we  are  at  home.  And 
there  lies  my  faithful  mastiff  at  the  threshold. 
Cerberus!  Cerberus!  Come  hither,  my  good 
dog!" 

So  saying,  Pluto  pulled  at  the  reins,  and 
stopped  the  chariot  right  between  the  tall, 
massive  pillars  of  the  gateway.  The  mastiff  of 
which  he  had  spoken  got  up  from  the  threshold, 
and  stood  on  his  hinder  legs,  so  as  to  put  his 
fore  paws  on  the  chariot  wheel.  But,  my  stars, 
what  a  strange  dog  it  was!  Why,  he  was  a  big, 
rough,  ugly-looking  monster,  with  three  separate 
heads,  and  each  of  them  fiercer  than  the  two 
others;  but  fierce  as  they  were,  King  Pluto 
patted  them  all.  He  seemed  as  fond  of  his 
three-headed  dog  as  if  it  had  been  a  sweet  little 
spaniel,  with  silken  ears  and  curly  hair.  Cer- 
berus, on  the  other  hand,  was  evidently  rejoiced 
to  see  his  master,  and  expressed  his  attachment, 
as  other  dogs  do,  by  wagging  his  tail  at  a  great 
rate.  Proserpina's  eyes  being  drawn  to  it  by  its 
brisk  motion,  she  saw  that  this  tail  was  neither 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       191 

more  nor  less  than  a  live  dragon,  with  fiery  eyes, 
and  fangs  that  had  a  very  poisonous  aspect. 
And  while  the  three-headed  Cerberus  was  fawn- 
ing so  lovingly  on  King  Pluto,  there  was  the 
dragon  tail  wagging  against  its  will,  and  looking 
as  cross  and  ill-natured  as  you  can  imagine,  on 
its  own  separate  account. 

"Will  the  dog  bite  me?"  asked  Proserpina, 
shrinking  closer  to  Pluto.  "What  an  ugly 
creature  he  is!" 

"O,  never  fear,"  answered  her  companion. 
"He  never  harms  people,  unless  they  try  to 
enter  my  dominions  without  being  sent  for,  or 
to  get  away  when  I  wish  to  keep  them  here. 
Down,  Cerberus!  Now,  my  pretty  Proserpina, 
we  will  drive  on." 

On  went  the  chariot,  and  King  Pluto  seemed 
greatly  pleased  to  find  himself  once  more  in  his 
own  kingdom.  He  drew  Proserpina's  attention 
to  the  rich  veins  of  gold  that  were  to  be  seen 
among  the  rocks,  and  pointed  to  several  places 
where  one  stroke  of  a  pickaxe  would  loosen  a 
bushel  of  diamonds.  All  along  the  road,  indeed, 
there  were  sparkling  gems,  which  would  have 
been  of  inestimable  value  above  ground,  but 
which  here  were  reckoned  of  the  meaner  sort 
and  hardly  worth  a  beggar's  stooping  for. 

Not  far  from  the  gateway,  they  came  to  a 
bridge,  which  seemed  to  be  built  of  iron.  Pluto 
stopped  the  chariot,  and  bade  Proserpina  look  at 

13 


i92  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

the  stream  which  was  gliding  so  lazily  beneath  it. 
Never  in  her  life  had  she  beheld  so  torpid,  so 
black,  so  muddy-looking  a  stream;  its  waters 
reflected  no  images  of  anything  that  was  on 
the  banks,  and  it  moved  as  sluggishly  as  if  it 
had  quite  forgotten  which  way  it  ought  to  flow, 
and  had  rather  stagnate  than  flow  either  one 
way  or  the  other. 

"This  is  the  River  Lethe,"  observed  King 
Pluto.  "  Is  it  not  a  very  pleasant  stream?" 

"I  think  it  a  very  dismal  one,"  answered 
Proserpina. 

"  It  suits  my  taste,  however,"  answered  Pluto, 
who  was  apt  to  be  sullen  when  anybody  dis- 
agreed with  him.  "  At  all  events,  its  water  has 
one  excellent  quality;  for  a  single  draught  of 
it  makes  people  forget  every  care  and  sorrow 
that  has  hitherto  tormented  them.  Only  sip  a 
little  of  it,  my  dear  Proserpina,  and  you  will 
instantly  cease  to  grieve  for  your  mother,  and 
will  have  nothing  in  your  memory  that  can 
prevent  your  being  perfectly  happy  in  my  palace. 
I  will  send  for  some,  in  a  golden  goblet,  the 
moment  we  arrive." 

"O,  no,  no,  no!"  cried  Proserpina,  weeping 
afresh.  "I  had  a  thousand  times  rather  be 
miserable  with  remembering  my  mother,  than 
be  happy  in  forgetting  her.  That  dear,  dear 
mother!  I  never,  never  will  forget  her." 

"We  shall  see,"  said  King  Pluto.     "You  do 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       193 

not  know  what  fine  times  we  will  have  in  my 
palace.  Here  we  are  just  at  the  portal.  These 
pillars  are  solid  gold,  I  assure  you." 

He  alighted  from  the  chariot,  and  taking 
Proserpina  in  his  arms,  carried  her  up  a  lofty 
flight  of  steps  into  the  great  hall  of  the  palace. 
It  was  splendidly  illuminated  by  means  of  large 
precious  stones,  of  various  hues,  which  seemed 
to  burn  like  so  many  lamps,  and  glowed  with  a 
hundred-fold  radiance  all  through  the  vast  apart- 
ment. And  yet  there  was  a  kind  of  gloom  in  the 
midst  of  this  enchanted  light;  nor  was  there  a 
single  object  in  the  hall  that  was  really  agreeable 
to  behold,  except  the  little  Proserpina  herself,  a 
lovely  child,  with  one  earthly  flower  which  she 
had  not  let  fall  from  her  hand.  It  is  my  opinion 
that  even  King  Pluto  had  never  been  happy  in 
his  palace,  and  that  this  was  the  true  reason 
why  he  had  stolen  away  Proserpina,  in  order 
that  he  might  have  something  to  love,  instead  of 
cheating  his  heart  any  longer  with  this  tiresome 
magnificence.  And,  though  he  pretended  to 
dislike  the  sunshine  of  the  upper  world,  yet  the 
effect  of  the  child's  presence,  bedimmed  as  she 
was  by  her  tears,  was  as  if  a  faint  and  watery 
sunbeam  had  somehow  or  other  found  its  way 
into  the  enchanted  hall. 

Pluto  now  summoned  his  domestics,  and  bade 
them  lose  no  time  in  preparing  a  most  sumptuous 
banquet,  and  above  all  things,  not  to  fail  of 


1 94  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

setting  a  golden  beaker  of  the  water  of  Lethe  by 
Proserpina's  plate. 

"  I  will  neither  drink  that  nor  anything  else," 
said  Proserpina.  "  Nor  will  I  taste  a  morsel  of 
food,  even  if  you  keep  me  forever  in  your  palace." 

"I  should  be  sorry  for  that,"  replied  King 
Pluto,  patting  her  cheek;  for  he  really  wished 
to  be  kind,  if  he  had  only  known  how.  "  You 
are  a  spoiled  child,  I  perceive,  my  little  Proser- 
pina; but  when  you  see  the  nice  things  which 
my  cook  will  make  for  you,  your  appetite  will 
quickly  come  again." 

Then,  sending  for  the  head  cook,  he  gave 
strict  orders  that  all  sorts  of  delicacies,  such  as 
young  people  are  usually  fond  of,  should  be  set 
before  Proserpina.  He  had  a  secret  motive  in 
this;  for,  you  are  to  understand,  it  is  a  fixed 
law,  that  when  persons  are  carried  off  to  the 
land  of  magic,  if  they  once  taste  any  food  there, 
they  can  never  get  back  to  their  friends.  Now, 
if  King  Pluto  had  been  cunning  enough  to  offer 
Proserpina  some  fruit,  or  bread  and  milk  (which 
was  the  simple  fare  to  which  the  child  had  always 
been  accustomed),  it  is  very  probable  that  she 
would  soon  have  been  tempted  to  eat  it.  But  he 
left  the  matter  entirely  to  his  cook,  who,  like 
all  other  cooks,  considered  nothing  fit  to  eat 
unless  it  were  rich  pastry,  or  highly-seasoned 
meat,  or  spiced  sweet  cakes — things  which 
Proserpina's  mother  had  never  given  her,  and 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       195 

the  smell  of  which  quite  took  away  her  appe- 
tite, instead  of  sharpening  it. 

But  my  story  must  now  clamber  out  of  King 
Pluto's  dominions,  and  see  what  Mother  Ceres 
had  been  about,  since  she  was  bereft  of  her 
daughter.  We  had  a  glimpse  of  her,  as  you 
remember,  half  hidden  among  the  waving  grain, 
while  the  four  black  steeds  were  swiftly  whirling 
along  the  chariot,  in  which  her  beloved  Proser- 
pina was  so  unwillingly  borne  away.  You 
recollect,  too,  the  loud  scream  which  Proser- 
pina gave,  just  when  the  chariot  was  out  of 
sight. 

Of  all  the  child's  outcries,  this  lact  shriek 
was  the  only  one  that  reached  the  ears  of  Mother 
Ceres.  She  had  mistaken  the  rumbling  of  the 
chariot  wheels  for  a  peal  of  thunder,  and 
imagined  that  a  shower  was  coming  up,  and 
that  it  would  assist  her  in  making  the  corn  grow. 
But,  at  the  sound  of  Proserpina's  shriek,  she 
started,  and  looked  about  in  every  direction,  not 
knowing  whence  it  came,  but  feeling  almost 
certain  that  it  was  her  daughter's  voice.  It 
seemed  so  unaccountable,  however,  that  the 
girl  should  have  strayed  over  so  many  lands  and 
seas  (which  she  herself  could  not  have  traversed 
without  the  aid  of  her  winged  dragons),  that  the 
good  Ceres  tried  to  believe  that  it  must  be 
the  child  of  some  other  parent,  and  not  her 
own  darling  Proserpina,  who  had  uttered  this 


196  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

lamentable  cry.  Nevertheless,  it  troubled  her 
with  a  vast  many  tender  fears,  such  as  are 
ready  to  bestir  themselves  in  every  mother's 
heart,  when  she  finds  it  necessary  to  go  away 
from  her  dear  children  without  leaving  them 
under  the  care  of  some  maiden  aunt,  or  other 
such  faithful  guardian.  So  she  quickly  left  the 
field  in  which  she  had  been  so  busy ;  and,  as  her 
work  was  not  half  done,  the  grain  looked,  next 
day,  as  if  it  needed  both  sun  and  rain,  and  as  if 
it  were  blighted  in  the  ear,  and  had  something 
the  matter  with  its  roots. 

The  pair  of  dragons  must  have  had  very 
nimble  wings ;  for,  in  less  than  an  hour,  Mother 
Ceres  had  alighted  at  the  door  of  her  home,  and 
found  it  empty.  Knowing,  however,  that  the 
child  was  fond  of  sporting  on  the  sea-shore,  she 
hastened  thither  as  fast  as  she  could,  and  there 
beheld  the  wet  faces  of  the  poor  sea  nymphs 
peeping  over  a  wave.  All  this  while,  the  good 
creatures  had  been  waiting  on  the  bank  of 
sponge,  and  once,  every  half  minute  or  so,  had 
popped  up  their  four  heads  above  water,  to  see 
if  their  playmate  were  yet  coming  back.  When 
they  saw  Mother  Ceres,  they  sat  down  on  the 
crest  of  the  surf  wave,  and  let  it  toss  them  ashore 
at  her  feet. 

"  Where  is  Proserpina  ? ' '  cried  Ceres.  ' '  Where 
is  my  child?  Tell  me,  you  naughty  sea 
nymphs,  have  you  enticed  her  under  the  sea?" 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       197 

"O,  no,  good  Mother  Ceres,"  said  the  inno- 
cent sea  nymphs,  tossing  back  their  green 
ringlets,  and  looking  her  in  the  face.  "We 
never  should  dream  of  such  a  thing.  Proser- 
pina has  been  at  play  with  us,  it  is  true ;  but  she 
left  us  a  long  while  ago,  meaning  only  to  run 
a  little  way  upon  the  dry  land,  and  gather 
some  flowers  for  a  wreath.  This  was  early 
in  the  day,  and  we  have  seen  nothing  of  her 
since." 

Ceres  scarcely  waited  to  hear  what  the  nymphs 
had  to  say,  before  she  hurried  off  to  make 
inquiries  all  through  the  neighborhood.  But 
nobody  told  her  anything  that  would  enable  the 
poor  mother  to  guess  what  had  become  of 
Proserpina.  A  fisherman,  it  is  true,  had  noticed 
her  little  footprints  in  the  sand,  as  he  went  home- 
ward along  the  beach  with  a  basket  of  fish;  a 
rustic  had  seen  the  child  stooping  to  gather 
flowers;  several  persons  had  heard  either  the 
rattling  of  chariot  wheels,  or  the  rumbling  of 
distant  thunder;  and  one  old  woman,  while 
plucking  vervain  and  catnip,  had  heard  a  scream, 
but  supposed  it  to  be  some  childish  nonsense, 
and  therefore  did  not  take  the  trouble  to  look  up. 
The  stupid  people!  It  took  them  such  a  tedi- 
ous while  to  tell  the  nothing  that  they  knew, 
that  it  was  dark  night  before  Mother  Ceres  found 
out  that  she  must  seek  her  daughter  elsewhere. 
So  she  lighted  a  torch,  and  set  forth,  resolving 


198  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

never  to  come  back  until  Proserpina  was  dis- 
covered. 

In  her  haste  and  trouble  of  mind,  she  quite 
forgot  her  car  and  the  winged  dragons;  or,  it 
may  be,  she  thought  that  she  could  follow  up 
the  search  more  thoroughly  on  foot.  At  all 
events,  this  was  the  way  in  which  she  began  her 
sorrowful  journey,  holding  her  torch  before  her, 
and  looking  carefully  at  every  object  along  the 
path.  And  as  it  happened,  she  had  not  gone 
far  before  she  found  one  of  the  magnificent 
flowers  which  grew  on  the  shrub  that  Proser- 
pina had  pulled  up. 

"Ha!"  thought  Mother  Ceres,  examining  it 
by  torchlight.  "  Here  is  mischief  in  this  flower! 
The  earth  did  not  produce  it  by  any  help  of 
mine,  nor  of  its  own  accord.  It  is  the  work  of 
enchantment,  and  is  therefore  poisonous;  and 
perhaps  it  has  poisoned  my  poor  child." 

But  she  put  the  poisonous  flower  in  her  bosom, 
not  knowing  whether  she  might  ever  find  any 
other  memorial  of  Proserpina. 

All  night  long,  at  the  door  of  every  cottage 
and  farm-house,  Ceres  knocked,  and  called  up 
the  weary  laborers  to  inquire  if  they  had  seen 
her  child;  and  they  stood,  gaping  and  half- 
asleep,  at  the  threshold,  and  answered  her  pity- 
ingly, and  besought  her  to  come  in  and  rest. 
At  the  portal  of  every  palace,  too,  she  made  so 
loud  a  summons  that  the  menials  hurried  to 


//  never  was  extinguished  by  the  rain  or  wind 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS,       199 

throw  open  the  gate,  thinking  that  it  must  be 
some  great  king  or  queen,  who  would  demand 
a  banquet  for  supper  and  a  stately  chamber  to 
repose  in.  And  when  they  saw  only  a  sad  and 
anxious  woman,  with  a  torch  in  her  hand  and  a 
wreath  of  withered  poppies  on  her  head,  they 
spoke  rudely,  and  sometimes  threatened  to  set 
the  dogs  upon  her.  But  nobody  had  seen  Pro- 
serpina, nor  could  give  Mother  Ceres  the  least 
hint  which  way  to  seek  her.  Thus  passed  the 
night;  and  still  she  continued  her  search  with- 
out sitting  down  to  rest,  or  stopping  to  take 
food,  or  even  remembering  to  put  out  the  torch ; 
although  first  the  rosy  dawn,  and  then  the 
glad  light  of  the  morning  sun,  made  its  red 
flame  look  thin  and  pale.  But  I  wonder  what 
sort  of  stuff  this  torch  was  made  of;  for  it 
burned  dimly  through  the  day,  and,  at  night, 
was  as  bright  as  ever,  and  never  was  extin- 
guished by  the  rain  or  wind,  in  all  the  weary 
days  and  nights  while  Ceres  was  seeking  for 
Proserpina. 

It  was  not  merely  of  human  beings  that  she 
asked  tidings  of  her  daughter.  In  the  woods  and 
by  the  streams,  she  met  creatures  of  another 
nature,  who  used,  in  those  old  times,  to  haunt 
the  pleasant  and  solitary  places,  and  were  very 
sociable  with  persons  who  understood  their 
language  and  customs,  as  Mother  Ceres  did. 
Sometimes,  for  instance,  she  tapped  with  her 


200  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

finger  against  the  knotted  trunk  of  a  majestic 
oak;  and  immediately  its  rude  bark  would 
cleave  asunder,  and  forth  would  step  a  beautiful 
maiden,  who  was  the  hamadryad  of  the  oak, 
dwelling  inside  of  it,  and  sharing  its  long  life, 
and  rejoicing  when  its  green  leaves  sported  with 
the  breeze.  But  not  one  of  these  leafy  damsels 
had  seen  Proserpina.  Then,  going  a  little 
farther,  Ceres  would,  perhaps,  come  to  a  foun- 
tain, gushing  out  of  a  pebbly  hollow  in  the 
earth,  and  would  dabble  with  her  hand  in  the 
water.  Behold,  up  through  its  sandy  and 
pebbly  bed,  along  with  the  fountain's  gush,  a 
young  woman  with  dripping  hair  would  arise, 
and  stand  gazing  at  Mother  Ceres,  half  out  of 
the  water,  and  undulating  up  and  down  with 
its  ever-restless  motion.  But  when  the  mother 
asked  whether  her  poor  lost  child  had  stopped 
to  drink  out  of  the  fountain,  the  naiad,  with 
weeping  eyes  (for  these  water-nymphs  had  tears 
to  spare  for  everybody's  grief),  would  answer 
"No!"  in  a  murmuring  voice,  which  was  just 
like  the  murmur  of  the  stream. 

Often,  likewise,  she  encountered  fauns,  who 
looked  like  sunburnt  country  people,  except  that 
they  had  hairy  ears,  and  little  horns  upon  their 
foreheads,  and  the  hinder  legs  of  goats,  on  which 
they  gamboled  merrily  about  the  woods  and 
fields.  They  were  a  frolicsome  kind  of  creature 
but  grew  as  sad  as  their  cheerful  dispositions 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       201 

would  allow,  when  Ceres  inquired  for  her 
daughter,  and  they  had  no  good  news  to  tell. 
But  sometimes  she  same  suddenly  upon  a  rude 
gang  of  satyrs,  who  had  faces  like  monkeys,  and 
horses'  tails  behind  them,  and  who  were  gener- 
ally dancing  in  a  very  boisterous  manner,  with 
shouts  of  noisy  laughter.  When  she  stopped 
to  question  them,  they  would  only  laugh  the 
louder,  and  make  new  merriment  out  of  the 
lone  woman's  distress.  How  unkind  of  those 
ugly  satyrs!  And  once,  while  crossing  a  soli- 
tary sheep  pasture,  she  saw  a  personage  named 
Pan,  seated  at  the  foot  of  a  tall  rock,  and  making 
music  on  a  shepherd's  flute.  He,  too,  had  horns, 
and  hairy  ears,  and  goats'  feet;  but,  being 
acquainted  with  Mother  Ceres,  he  answered  her 
question  as  civilly  as  he  knew  how,  and  invited 
her  to  taste  some  milk  and  honey  out  of  a 
wooden  bowl.  But  neither  could  Pan  tell  her 
what  had  become  of  Proserpina,  any  better  than 
the  rest  of  these  wild  people. 

And  thus  Mother  Ceres  went  wandering  about 
for  nine  long  days  and  nights,  rinding  no  trace 
of  Proserpina,  unless  it  were  now  and  then  a 
withered  flower;  and  these  she  picked  up  and 
put  in  her  bosom,  because  she  fancied  that  they 
might  have  fallen  from  her  poor  child's  hand. 
All  day  she  traveled  onward  through  the  hot 
sun ;  and,  at  night  again,  the  flame  of  the  torch 
would  redden  and  gleam  along  the  pathway,  and 


202  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

she  continued  her  search  by  its  light,  without 
ever  sitting  down  to  rest. 

On  the  tenth  day,  she  chanced  to  espy  the 
mouth  of  a  cavern  within  which  (though  it  was 
bright  noon  everywhere  else)  there  would  have 
been  only  a  dusky  twilight;  but  it  so  happened 
that  a  torch  was  burning  there.  It  flickered, 
and  struggled  with  the  duskiness,  but  could  not 
half  light  up  the  gloomy  cavern  with  all  its 
melancholy  glimmer.  Ceres  was  resolved  to 
leave  no  spot  without  a  search;  so  she  peeped 
into  the  entrance  of  the  cave,  and  lighted  it  up 
a  little  more,  by  holding  her  own  torch  before 
her.  In  so  doing,  she  caught  a  glimpse  of  what 
seemed  to  be  a  woman,  sitting  on  the  brown 
leaves  of  the  last  autumn,  a  great  heap  of  which 
had  been  swept  into  the  cave  by  the  wind. 
This  woman  (if  woman  it  were)  was  by  no  means 
so  beautiful  as  many  of  her  sex;  for  her  head, 
they  tell  me,  was  shaped  very  much  like  a  dog's, 
and,  by  way  of  ornament,  she  wore  a  wreath  of 
snakes  around  it.  But  Mother  Ceres,  the 
moment  she  saw  her,  knew  that  this  was  an  odd 
kind  of  a  person,  who  put  all  her  enjoyment  in 
being  miserable,  and  never  would  have  a  word 
to  say  to  other  people,  unless  they  were  as 
melancholy  and  wretched  as  she  herself 
delighted  to  be. 

"I  am  wretched  enough  now,"  thought  poor 
Ceres,  "to  talk  with  this  melancholy  Hecate, 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       203 

were  she  ten  times  sadder  than  ever  she  was  yet." 

So  she  stepped  into  the  cave,  and  sat  down  on 
the  withered  leaves  by  the  dog-headed  woman's 
side.  In  all  the  world,  since  her  daughter's  loss, 
she  had  found  no  other  companion. 

"O  Hecate,"  said  she,  "if  ever  you  lose  a 
daughter,  you  will  know  what  sorrow  is.  Tell 
me,  for  pity's  sake,  have  you  seen  my  poor 
child  Proserpina  pass  by  the  mouth  of  your 
cavern?" 

"No,"  answered  Hecate,  in  a  cracked  voice, 
and  sighing  betwixt  every  word  or  two;  "no, 
Mother  Ceres,  I  have  seen  nothing  of  your 
daughter.  But  my  ears,  you  must  know,  are 
made  in  such  a  way,  that  all  cries  of  distress  and 
affright  all  over  the  world  are  pretty  sure  to 
find  their  way  to  them ;  and  nine  days  ago,  as  I 
sat  in  my  cave,  making  myself  very  miserable, 
I  heard  the  voice  of  a  young  girl,  shrieking  as  if 
in  great  distress.  Something  terrible  has  hap- 
pened to  the  child,  you  may  rest  assured.  As 
well  as  I  could  judge,  a  dragon,  or  some  other 
cruel  monster,  was  carrying  her  away." 

"You  kill  me  by  saying  so,"  cried  Ceres, 
almost  ready  to  faint.  "  Where  was  the  sound, 
and  which  way  did  it  seem  to  go? " 

"It  passed  very  swiftly  along,"  said  Hecate, 
"and,  at  the  same  time,  there  was  a  heavy 
rumbling  of  wheels  towards  the  eastward.  I  can 
tell  you  nothing  more,  except  that,  in  my  honest 


204  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

opinion,  you  will  never  see  your  daughter  again. 
The  best  advice  I  can  give  you  is,  to  take  up 
your  abode  in  this  cavern,  where  we  will  be  the 
two  most  wretched  women  in  the  world." 

"Not  yet,  dark  Hecate,"  replied  Ceres. 
"But  do  you  first  come  with  your  torch,  and 
help  me  to  seek  for  my  lost  child.  And  when 
there  shall  be  no  more  hope  of  finding  her  (if 
that  black  day  is  ordained  to  come),  then,  if  you 
will  give  me  room  to  fling  myself  down,  either 
on  these  withered  leaves  or  on  the  naked  rock,  I 
will  show  what  it  is  to  be  miserable.  But, 
until  I  know  that  she  has  perished  from  the  face 
of  the  earth,  I  will  not  allow  myself  space  even 
to  grieve." 

The  dismal  Hecate  did  not  much  like  the 
idea  of  going  abroad  into  the  sunny  world.  But 
then  she  reflected  that  the  sorrow  of  the  dis- 
consolate Ceres  would  be  like  a  gloomy  twilight 
round  about  them  both,  let  the  sun  shine  ever  so 
brightly,  and  that  therefore  she  might  enjoy 
her  bad  spirits  quite  as  well  as  if  she  were  to 
stay  in  the  cave.  So  she  finally  consented  to 
go,  and  they  set  out  together,  both  carrying 
torches,  although  it  was  broad  daylight  and 
clear  sunshine.  The  torchlight  seemed  to  make 
a  gloom;  so  that  the  people  whom  they  met, 
along  the  road,  could  not  very  distinctly  see 
their  figures;  and,  indeed,  if  they  once  caught 
a  glimpse  of  Hecate,  with  the  wreath  of  snakes 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       205 

round  her  forehead,  they  generally  thought  it 
prudent  to  run  away,  without  waiting  for  a 
second  glance. 

As  the  pair  traveled  along  in  this  woe-be- 
gone  manner,  a  thought  struck  Ceres. 

"There  is  one  person,"  she  exclaimed,  "who 
must  have  seen  my  poor  child,  and  can  doubt- 
less tell  what  has  become  of  her.  Why  did  not 
I  think  of  him  before?  It  is  Phoebus." 

"What,"  said  Hecate,  "the  young  man  that 
always  sits  in  the  sunshine?  O,  pray  do  not 
think  of  going  near  him.  He  is  a  gay,  light, 
frivolous  young  fellow,  and  will  only  smile  in 
your  face.  And  besides,  there  is  such  a  glare 
of  the  sun  about  him,  that  he  will  quite  blind 
my  poor  eyes,  which  I  have  almost  wept  away 
already." 

"You  have  promised  to  be  my  companion," 
answered  Ceres.  "  Come,  let  us  make  haste,  or 
the  sunshine  will  be  gone,  and  Phoebus  along 
with  it." 

Accordingly,  they  went  along  in  quest  of 
Phoebus,  both  of  them  sighing  grievously,  and 
Hecate,  to  say  the  truth,  making  a  great  deal 
worse  lamentation  than  Ceres;  for  all  the 
pleasure  she  had,  you  know,  lay  in  being  miser- 
able, and  therefore  she  made  the  most  of  it. 
By  and  by,  after  a  pretty  long  journey,  they 
arrived  at  the  sunniest  spot  in  the  whole  world. 
There  they  beheld  a  beautiful  young  man,  with 


2o6  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

long,  curling  ringlets,  which  seemed  to  be  made 
of  golden  sunbeams;  his  garments  were  like 
light  summer  clouds;  and  the  expression  of  his 
face  was  so  exceedingly  vivid,  that  Hecate  held 
her  hands  before  her  eyes,  muttering  that  he 
ought  to  wear  a  black  veil.  Phoebus  (for  this 
was  the  very  person  whom  they  were  seeking) 
had  a  lyre  in  his  hands,  and  was  making  its 
chords  tremble  with  sweet  music;  at  the  same 
time  singing  a  most  exquisite  song,  which  he  had 
recently  composed.  For,  beside  a  great  many 
other  accomplishments,  this  young  man  was 
renowned  for  his  admirable  poetry. 

As  Ceres  and  her  dismal  companion 
approached  him,  Phoebus  smiled  on  them  so 
cheerfully  that  Hecate's  wreath  of  snakes  gave 
a  spiteful  hiss,  and  Hecate  heartily  wished  her- 
self back  in  her  cave.  But  as  for  Ceres,  she  was 
too  earnest  in  her  grief  either  to  know  or  care 
whether  Phoebus  smiled  or  frowned. 

"Phoebus!"  exclaimed  she,  "I  am  in  great 
trouble,  and  have  come  to  you  for  assistance. 
Can  you  tell  me  what  has  become  of  my  dear 
child  Proserpina  ? ' ' 

"Proserpina!  Proserpina,  did  you  call  her 
name?"  answered  Phoebus,  endeavoring  to  recol- 
lect; for  there  was  such  a  continual  flow  of 
pleasant  ideas  in  his  mind,  that  he  was  apt  to 
forget  what  had  happened  no  longer  ago  than 
yesterday.  "Ah,  yes,  I  remember  her  now. 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       207 

A  very  lovely  child,  indeed.  I  am  happy  to  tell 
you,  my  dear  madam,  that  I  did  see  the  little 
Proserpina  not  many  days  ago.  You  may 
make  yourself  perfectly  easy  about  her.  She 
is  safe,  and  in  excellent  hands." 

"O,  where  is  my  dear  child?"  cried  Ceres, 
clasping  her  hands,  and  flinging  herself  at  his 
feet. 

"Why,"  said  Phoebus — and  as  he  spoke  he 
kept  touching  his  lyre  so  as  to  make  a  thread 
of  music  run  in  and  out  among  his  words — "  as 
the  little  damsel  was  gathering  flowers  (and  she 
has  really  a  very  exquisite  taste  for  flowers),  she 
was  suddenly  snatched  up  by  King  Pluto,  and 
carried  off  to  his  dominions.  I  have  never  been 
in  that  part  of  the  universe;  but  the  royal 
palace,  I  am  told,  is  built  in  a  very  noble  style 
of  architecture,  and  of  the  most  splendid  and 
costly  materials.  Gold,  diamonds,  pearls,  and 
all  manner  of  precious  stones  will  be  your 
daughter's  ordinary  playthings.  I  recommend 
to  you,  my  dear  lady,  to  give  yourself  no  uneasi- 
ness. Proserpina's  sense  of  beauty  will  be  duly 
gratified,  and  even  in  spite  of  the  lack  of  sun- 
shine, she  will  lead  a  very  enviable  life." 

"Hush!  Say  not  such  a  word!"  answered 
Ceres,  indignantly.  "What  is  there  to  gratify 
her  heart?  What  are  all  the  splendors 
you  speak  of  without  affection?  I  must 
have  her  back  again.  Will  you  go  with  me, 

14 


208  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Phoebus,  to  demand  my  daughter  of  this  wicked 
Pluto?" 

"Pray  excuse  me,"  replied  Phoebus,  with  an 
elegant  obeisance.  "  I  certainly  wish  you  suc- 
cess, and  regret  that  my  own  affairs  are  so 
immediately  pressing  that  I  cannot  have  the 
pleasure  of  attending  you.  Besides,  I  am  not 
upon  the  best  of  terms  with  King  Pluto.  To  tell 
you  the  truth,  his  three-headed  mastiff  would 
never  let  me  pass  the  gateway;  for  I  should  be 
compelled  to  take  a  sheaf  of  sunbeams  along 
with  me,  and  those,  you  know,  are  forbidden 
things  in  Pluto's  kingdom." 

"Ah,  Phoebus,"  said  Ceres,  with  bitter  mean- 
ing in  her  words,  "  you  have  a  harp  instead  of  a 
heart.  Farewell." 

"Will  not  you  stay  a  moment,"  asked 
Phoebus,  "and  hear  me  turn  the  pretty  and 
touching  story  of  Proserpina  into  extemporary 
verses?" 

But  Ceres  shook  her  head,  and  hastened 
away,  along  with  Hecate.  Phoebus  (who,  as  I 
have  told  you,  was  an  exquisite  poet)  forthwith 
began  to  make  an  ode  about  the  poor  mother's 
grief;  and,  if  we  were  to  judge  of  his  sensibility 
by  this  beautiful  production,  he  must  have  been 
endowed  with  a  very  tender  heart.  But  when  a 
poet  gets  into  the  habit  of  using  his  heartstrings 
to  make  chords  for  his  lyre,  he  may  thrum  upon 
them  as  much  as  he  will,  without  any  great 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       209 

pain  to  himself.  Accordingly,  though  Phoebus 
sang  a  very  sad  song,  he  was  as  merry  all  the 
while  as  were  the  sunbeams  amid  which  he  dwelt. 

Poor  Mother  Ceres  had  now  found  out  what 
had  become  of  her  daughter,  but  was  not  a  whit 
happier  than  before.  Her  case,  on  the  con- 
trary, looked  more  desperate  than  ever.  As 
long  as  Proserpina  was  above  ground,  there 
might  have  been  hopes  of  regaining  her.  But 
now  that  the  poor  child  was  shut  up  within  the 
iron  gates  of  the  king  of  the  mines,  at  the 
threshold  of  which  lay  the  three-headed  Cer- 
berus, there  seemed  no  possibility  of  her  ever 
making  her  escape.  The  dismal  Hecate,  who 
loved  to  take  the  darkest  view  of  things,  told 
Ceres  that  she  had  better  come  with  her  to  the 
cavern,  and  spend  the  rest  of  her  life  in  being 
miserable.  Ceres  answered,  that  Hecate  was 
welcome  to  go  back  thither  herself,  but  that, 
for  her  part,  she  would  wander  about  the  earth 
in  quest  of  the  entrance  to  King  Pluto's  domin- 
ions. And  Hecate  took  her  at  her  word,  and 
hurried  back  to  her  beloved  cave,  frightening  a 
great  many  little  children  with  a  glimpse  of  her 
dog's  face  as  she  went. 

Poor  Mother  Ceres!  It  is  melancholy  to 
think  of  her,  pursuing  her  toilsome  way,  all 
alone,  and  holding  up  that  never-dying  torch, 
the  flame  of  which  seemed  an  emblem  of  the 
grief  and  hope  that  burned  together  in  her  heart. 


210  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

So  much  did  she  suffer,  that,  though  her  aspect 
had  been  quite  youthful  when  her  troubles  began, 
she  grew  to  look  like  an  elderly  person  in  a 
very  brief  time.  She  cared  not  how  she  was 
dressed,  nor  had  she  ever  thought  of  flinging 
away  the  wreath  of  withered  poppies,  which  she 
put  on  the  very  morning  of  Proserpina's  dis- 
appearance. She  roamed  about  in  so  wild  a 
way,  and  with  her  hair  so  disheveled,  that 
people  took  her  for  some  distracted  creature, 
and  never  dreamed  that  this  was  Mother  Ceres, 
who  had  the  oversight  of  every  seed  which  the 
husbandman  planted.  Nowadays,  however,  she 
gave  herself  no  trouble  about  seed  time  nor 
harvest,  but  left  the  farmers  to  take  care  of 
their  own  affairs,  and  the  crops  to  fade  or 
flourish,  as  the  case  might  be.  There  was 
nothing,  now,  in  which  Ceres  seemed  to  feel  an 
interest,  unless  when  she  saw  children  at  play, 
or  gathering  flowers  along  the  wayside.  Then, 
indeed,  she  would  stand  and  gaze  at  them  with 
tears  in  her  eyes.  The  children,  too,  appeared 
to  have  a  sympathy  with  her  grief,  and  would 
cluster  themselves  in  a  little  group  about  her 
knees,  and  look  up  wistfully  in  her  face;  and 
Ceres,  after  giving  them  a  kiss  all  round,  would 
lead  them  to  their  homes,  and  advise  their 
mothers  never  to  let  them  stray  out  of  sight. 

"For  if  they  do,"  said  she,  "it  may  happen 
to  you,  as  it  has  to  me,  that  the  iron-hearted 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       211 

King  Pluto  will  take  a  liking  to  your  darlings, 
and  snatch  them  up  in  his  chariot,  and  carry 
them  away." 

One  day,  during  her  pilgrimage  in  quest  of 
the  entrance  to  Pluto's  kingdom,  she  came  to  the 
palace  of  King  Celeus,  who  reigned  at  Eleusis. 
Ascending  a  lofty  flight  of  steps,  she  entered 
the  portal,  and  found  the  royal  household  in 
very  great  alarm  about  the  queen's  baby.  The 
infant,  it  seems,  was  sickly  (being  troubled  with 
its  teeth,  I  suppose),  and  would  take  no  food, 
and  was  all  the  time  moaning  with  pain.  The 
queen — her  name  was  Metanira — was  desirous 
of  finding  a  nurse;  and  when  she  beheld  a 
woman  of  matronly  aspect  coming  up  the 
palace  steps,  she  thought,  in  her  own  mind,  that 
here  was  the  very  person  whom  she  needed. 
So  Queen  Metanira  ran  to  the  door,  with  the 
poor  wailing  baby  in  her  arms,  and  besought 
Ceres  to  take  charge  of  it,  or,  at  least,  to  tell  her 
what  would  do  it  good. 

"Will  you  trust  the  child  entirely  to  me?'* 
asked  Ceres. 

"Yes,  and  gladly,  too,"  answered  the  queen, 
"  if  you  will  devote  all  your  time  to  him.  For  I 
can  see  that  you  have  been  a  mother." 

"You  are  right,"  said  Ceres.  "I  once  had  a 
child  of  my  own.  Well;  I  will  be  the  nurse  of 
this  poor,  sickly  boy.  But  beware,  I  warn  you, 
that  you  do  not  interfere  with  any  kind  of 


zi2  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

treatment  which  I  may  judge  proper  for  him. 
If  you  do  so,  the  poor  infant  must  suffer  for 
his  mother's  folly." 

Then  she  kissed  the  child,  and  it  seemed  to  do 
him  good;  for  he  smiled  and  nestled  closely  into 
her  bosom. 

So  Mother  Ceres  set  her  torch  in  a  corner 
(where  it  kept  burning  all  the  while),  and  took 
up  her  abode  in  the  palace  of  King  Celeus,  as 
nurse  to  the  little  Prince  Demophoon.  She 
treated  him  as  if  he  were  her  own  child,  and 
allowed  neither  the  king  nor  the  queen  to  say 
whether  he  should  be  bathed  in  warm  or  cold 
water,  or  what  he  should  eat,  or  how  often  he 
should  take  the  air,  or  when  he  should  be  put 
to  bed.  You  would  hardly  believe  me,  if  I  were 
to  tell  how  quickly  the  baby  prince  got  rid  of  his 
ailments,  and  grew  fat,  and  rosy,  and  strong, 
and  how  he  had  two  rows  of  ivory  teeth  in  less 
time  than  any  other  little  fellow,  before  or  since. 
Instead  of  the  palest,  and  wretchedest,  and 
puniest  imp  in  the  world  (as  his  own  mother 
confessed  him  to  be,  when  Ceres  first  took  him 
in  charge),  he  was  now  a  strapping  baby,  crow- 
ing, laughing,  kicking  up  his  heels,  and  rolling 
from  one  end  of  the  room  to  the  other.  All  the 
good  women  of  the  neighborhood  crowded  to  the 
palace,  and  held  up  their  hands,  in  unutterable 
amazement,  at  the  beauty  and  wholesomeness 
of  this  darling  little  prince.  Their  wonder  was 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       213 

the  greater,  because  he  was  never  seen  to  taste 
any  food;  not  even  so  much  as  a  cup  of  milk. 

"Pray,  nurse,"  the  queen  kept  saying,  "how 
is  it  that  you  make  the  child  thrive  so?" 

"I  was  a  mother  once,"  Ceres  always  replied; 
"  and  having  nursed  my  own  child,  I  know  what 
other  children  need." 

But  Queen  Metanira,  as  was  very  natural,  had 
a  great  curiosity  to  know  precisely  what  the 
nurse  did  to  her  child.  One  night,  therefore, 
she  hid  herself  in  the  chamber  where  Ceres  and 
the  little  prince  were  accustomed  to  sleep. 
There  was  a  fire  in  the  chimney,  and  it  had  now 
crumbled  into  great  coals  and  embers,  which 
lay  glowing  on  the  hearth,  with  a  blaze  flickering 
up  now  and  then,  and  flinging  a  warm  and  ruddy 
light  upon  the  walls.  Ceres  sat  before  the 
hearth  with  the  child  in  her  lap,  and  the  firelight 
making  her  shadow  dance  upon  the  ceiling 
overhead.  She  undressed  the  little  prince,  and 
bathed  him  all  over  with  some  fragrant  liquid 
out  of  a  vase.  The  next  thing  she  did  was  to 
rake  back  the  red  embers,  and  make  a  hollow 
place  among  them,  just  where  the  backlog 
had  been.  At  last,  while  the  baby  was  crowing, 
and  clapping  its  fat  little  hands,  and  laughing 
in  the  nurse's  face  (just  as  you  may  have  seen 
your  little  brother  or  sister  do  before  going 
into  its  warm  bath),  Ceres  suddenly  laid  him, 
all  naked  as  he  was,  in  the  hollow  among  the 


214  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

red-hot  embers.  She  then  raked  the  ashes  over 
him,  and  turned  quietly  away. 

You  may  imagine,  if  you  can,  how  Queen 
Metanira  shrieked,  thinking  nothing  less  than 
that  her  dear  child  would  be  burned  to  a  cinder. 
She  burst  forth  from  her  hiding-place,  and 
running  to  the  hearth,  raked  open  the  fire, 
and  snatched  up  poor  little  Prince  Demophoon 
out  of  his  bed  of  live  coals,  one  of  which  he  was 
gripping  in  each  of  his  fists.  He  immediately 
set  up  a  grievous  cry,  as  babies  are  apt  to  do, 
when  rudely  startled  out  of  a  sound  sleep.  To 
the  queen's  astonishment  and  joy,  she  could 
perceive  no  token  of  the  child's  being  injured  by 
the  hot  fire  in  which  he  had  lain.  She  now 
turned  to  Mother  Ceres,  and  asked  her  to  explain 
the  mystery. 

"Foolish  woman,"  answered  Ceres,  "did  you 
not  promise  to  intrust  this  poor  infant  entirely 
to  me?  You  little  know  the  mischief  you  have 
done  him.  Had  you  left  him  to  my  care,  he 
would  have  grown  up  like  a  child  of  celestial 
birth,  endowed  with  superhuman  strength  and 
intelligence,  and  would  have  lived  forever.  Do 
you  imagine  that  earthly  children  are  to  become 
immortal  without  being  tempered  to  it  in  the 
fiercest  heat  of  the  fire?  But  you  have  ruined 
your  own  son.  For  though  he  will  be  a  strong 
man  and  a  hero  in  his  day,  yet,  on  account  of 
your  folly,  he  will  grow  old,  and  finally  die,  like 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       215 

the  sons  of  other  women.  The  weak  tenderness 
of  his  mother  has  cost  the  poor  boy  an  im- 
mortality. Farewell." 

Saying  these  words,  she  kissed  the  little 
Prince  Demophoon,  and  sighed  to  think  what 
he  had  lost,  and  took  her  departure  without 
heeding  Queen  Metanira,  who  entreated  her  to 
remain,  and  cover  up  the  child  among  the  hot 
embers  as  often  as  she  pleased.  Poor  baby! 
He  never  slept  so  warmly  again. 

While  she  dwelt  in  the  king's  palace,  Mother 
Ceres  had  been  so  continually  occupied  with 
taking  care  of  the  young  prince,  that  her  heart 
was  a  little  lightened  of  its  grief  for  Proserpina. 
But  now,  having  nothing  else  to  busy  herself 
about,  she  became  just  as  wretched  as  before. 
At  length,  in  her  despair,  she  came  to  the 
dreadful  resolution  that  not  a  stalk  of  grain,  nor 
a  blade  of  grass,  not  a  potato,  nor  a  turnip,  nor 
any  other  vegetable  that  was  good  for  man  or 
beast  to  eat,  should  be  suffered  to  grow  until  her 
daughter  were  restored.  She  even  forbade  the 
flowers  to  bloom,  lest  somebody's  heart  should 
be  cheered  by  their  beauty. 

Now,  as  not  so  much  as  a  head  of  asparagus 
ever  presumed  to  poke  itself  out  of  the  ground, 
without  the  especial  permission  of  Ceres,  you 
may  conceive  what  a  terrible  calamity  had  here 
fallen  upon  the  earth.  The  husbandmen 
plowed  and  planted  as  usual;  but  there  lay 


216  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

the  rich  black  furrows,  all  as  barren  as  a  desert 
of  sand.  The  pastures  looked  as  brown  in  the 
sweet  month  of  June  as  ever  they  did  in 
chill  November.  The  rich  man's  broad  acres 
and  the  cottager's  small  garden  patch  were 
equally  blighted.  Every  little  girl's  flower  bed 
showed  nothing  but  dry  stalks.  The  old  people 
shook  their  white  heads,  and  said  that  the 
earth  had  grown  aged  like  themselves,  and  was 
no  longer  capable  of  wearing  the  warm  smile 
of  summer  on  its  face.  It  was  really  piteous  to 
see  the  poor,  starving  cattle  and  sheep,  how 
they  followed  behind  Ceres,  lowing  and  bleating, 
as  if  their  instinct  taught  them  to  expect  help 
from  her;  and  everybody  that  was  acquainted 
with  her  power  besought  her  to  have  mercy  on 
the  human  race,  and,  at  all  events,  to  let  the 
grass  grow.  But  Mother  Ceres,  though  natur- 
ally of  an  affectionate  disposition,  was  now 
inexorable. 

"Never,"  said  she.  "If  the  earth  is  ever 
again  to  see  any  verdure,  it  must  first  grow 
along  the  path  which  my  daughter  will  tread 
in  coming  back  to  me." 

Finally,  as  there  seemed  to  be  no  other 
remedy,  our  old  friend  Quicksilver  was  sent 
post-haste  to  King  Pluto,  in  hopes  that  he 
might  be  persuaded  to  undo  the  mischief  he  had 
done,  and  to  set  everything  right  again,  by 
giving  up  Proserpina.  Quicksilver  accordingly 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       217 

made  the  best  of  his  way  to  the  great  gate,  took 
a  flying  leap  right  over  the  three-headed  mastiff, 
and  stood  at  the  door  of  the  palace  in  an  incon- 
ceivably short  time.  The  servants  knew  him 
both  by  his  face  and  garb;  for  his  short  cloak, 
and  his  winged  cap  and  shoes,  and  his  snaky 
staff  had  often  been  seen  thereabouts  in  times 
gone  by.  He  requested  to  be  shown  immediately 
into  the  king's  presence;  and  Pluto,  who  heard 
his  voice  from  the  top  of  the  stairs,  and  who 
loved  to  recreate  himself  with  Quicksilver's 
merry  talk,  called  out  to  him  to  come  up.  And 
while  they  settle  their  business  together,  we 
must  inquire  what  Proserpina  had  been  doing 
ever  since  we  saw  her  last. 

The  child  had  declared,  as  you  may  remember, 
that  she  would  not  taste  a  mouthful  of  food  as 
long  as  she  should  be  compelled  to  remain  in 
King  Pluto's  palace.  How  she  contrived  to 
maintain  her  resolution,  and  at  the  same  time 
to  keep  herself  tolerably  plump  and  rosy,  is  more 
than  I  can  explain;  but  some  young  ladies,  I 
am  given  to  understand,  possess  the  faculty  of 
living  on  air,  and  Proserpina  seems  to  have 
possessed  it  too.  At  any  rate,  it  was  now  six 
months  since  she  left  the  outside  of  the  earth; 
and  not  a  morsel,  so  far  as  the  attendants  were 
able  to  testify,  had  yet  passed  between  her 
teeth.  This  was  the  more  creditable  to  Proser- 
pina, inasmuch  as  King  Pluto  had  caused  her  to 


218  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

be  tempted  day  by  day,  with  all  manner  of 
sweetmeats,  and  richly-preserved  fruits,  and 
delicacies  of  every  sort,  such  as  young  people 
are  generally  most  fond  of.  But  her  good 
mother  had  often  told  her  of  the  hurtfulness  of 
these  things ;  and  for  that  reason  alone,  if  there 
had  been  no  other,  she  would  have  resolutely 
refused  to  taste  them. 

All  this  time,  being  of  a  cheerful  and  active 
disposition,  the  little  damsel  was  not  quite  so 
unhappy  as  you  may  have  supposed.  The 
immense  palace  had  a  thousand  rooms,  and  was 
full  of  beautiful  and  wonderful  objects.  There 
was  a  never-ceasing  gloom,  it  is  true,  which  half 
hid  itself  among  the  innumerable  pillars,  gliding 
before  the  child  as  she  wandered  among  them, 
and  treading  stealthily  behind  her  in  the  echo 
of  her  footsteps.  Neither  was  all  the  dazzle  of 
the  precious  stones,  which  flamed  with  their  own 
light,  worth  one  gleam  of  natural  sunshine ;  nor 
could  the  most  brilliant  of  the  many-colored 
gems,  which  Proserpina  had  for  playthings,  vie 
with  the  simple  beauty  of  the  flowers  she  used  to 
gather.  But  still,  whenever  the  girl  went 
among  those  gilded  halls  and  chambers,  it 
seemed  as  if  she  carried  nature  and  sunshine 
along  with  her,  and  as  if  she  scattered  dewy 
blossoms  on  her  right  hand  and  on  her  left. 
After  Proserpina  came,  the  palace  was  no  longer 
the  same  abode  of  stately  artifice  and  dismal 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       219 

magnificence  that  it  had  before  been.  The 
inhabitants  all  felt  this,  and  King  Pluto  more 
than  any  of  them. 

"My  own  little  Proserpina,"  he  used  to  say, 
"  I  wish  you  could  like  me  a  little  better.  We 
gloomy  and  cloudy-natured  persons  have  often 
as  warm  hearts,  at  bottom,  as  those  of  a  more 
cheerful  character.  If  you  would  on'y  stay 
with  me  of  your  own  accord,  it  would  rru  ke  me 
happier  than  the  possession  of  a  hundred  such 
palaces  as  this." 

"Ah,"  said  Proserpina,  "you  should  have 
tried  to  make  me  like  you  before  carrying  me 
off.  And  the  best  thing  you  can  now  do  is,  to 
let  me  go  again.  Then  I  might  remember  you 
sometimes,  and  think  that  you  were  as  kind  as 
you  knew  how  to  be.  Perhaps,  too,  one  day  or 
other,  I  might  come  back,  and  pay  you  a  visit." 

"No,  no,"  answered  Pluto,  with  his  gloomy 
smile,  "I  will  not  trust  you  for  that.  You  are 
too  fond  of  living  in  the  broad  daylight,  and 
gathering  flowers.  What  an  idle  and  childish 
taste  that  is!  Are  not  these  gems,  which  I 
have  ordered  to  be  dug  for  you,  and  which  are 
richer  than  any  in  my  crown — are  they  not 
prettier  than  a  violet?" 

"  Not  half  so  pretty,"  said  Proserpina,  snatch- 
ing the  gems  from  Pluto's  hand,  and  flinging 
them  to  the  other  end  of  the  hall.  "O  my 
sweet  violets,  shall  I  never  see  you  again?" 


220  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

And  then  she  burst  into  tears.  But  young 
people's  tears  have  very  little  saltness  or 
acidity  in  them,  and  do  not  inflame  the  eyes  so 
much  as  those  of  grown  persons;  so  that  it  is 
not  to  be  wondered  at,  if,  a  few  moments  after- 
wards, Proserpina  was  sporting  through  the  hall 
almost  as  merrily  as  she  and  the  four  sea  nymphs 
had  sported  along  the  edge  of  the  surf  wave. 
King  Vluto  gazed  after  her,  and  wished  that  he, 
too,  was  a  child.  And  little  Proserpina,  when 
she  turned  about,  and  beheld  this  great  king 
standing  in  his  splendid  hall,  and  looking  so 
grand,  and  so  melancholy,  and  so  lonesome, 
was  smitten  with  a  kind  of  pity.  She  ran  back 
to  him,  and,  for  the  first  time  in  all  her  life,  put 
her  small,  soft  hand  in  his. 

"I  love  you  a  little,"  whispered  she,  looking 
up  in  his  face. 

"Do  you,  indeed,  my  dear  child?"  cried 
Pluto,  bending  his  dark  face  down  to  kiss  her; 
but  Proserpina  shrank  away  from  the  kiss,  for, 
though  his  features  were  noble,  they  were  very 
dusky  and  grim.  "Well,  I  have  not  deserved 
it  of  you,  after  keeping  you  a  prisoner  for  so 
many  months,  and  starving  you  besides.  Are 
you  not  terribly  hungry?  Is  there  nothing 
which  I  can  get  you  to  eat?" 

In  asking  this  question,  the  king  of  the  mines 
had  a  very  cunning  purpose;  for,  you  will 
recollect,  if  Proserpina  tasted  a  morsel  of  food 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       221 

in  his  dominions,  she  would  never  afterwards 
be  at  liberty  to  quit  them. 

"  No  indeed,"  said  Proserpina.  "  Your  head 
cook  is  always  baking,  and  stewing,  and  roasting, 
and  rolling  out  paste,  and  contriving  one  dish 
or  another,  which  he  imagines  may  be  to  my 
liking.  But  he  might  just  as  well  save  himself 
the  trouble,  poor,  fat  little  man  that  he  is.  I 
have  no  appetite  for  anything  in  the  world, 
unless  it  were  a  slice  of  bread,  of  my  mother's 
own  baking,  or  a  little  fruit  out  of  her  garden." 

When  Pluto  heard  this,  he  began  to  see  that 
he  had  mistaken  the  best  method  of  tempting 
Proserpina  to  eat.  The  cook's  made  dishes  and 
artificial  dainties  were  not  half  so  delicious,  in 
the  good  child's  opinion,  as  the  simple  fare  to 
which  Mother  Ceres  had  accustomed  her.  Won- 
dering that  he  had  never  thought  of  it  before, 
the  king  now  sent  one  of  his  trusty  attendants 
with  a  large  basket,  to  get  some  of  the  finest 
and  juiciest  pears,  peaches,  and  plums  which 
could  anywhere  be  found  in  the  upper  world. 
Unfortunately,  however,  this  was  during  the 
time  when  Ceres  had  forbidden  any  fruits  or 
vegetables  to  grow;  and,  after  seeking  all  over 
the  earth,  King  Pluto's  servant  found  only  a 
single  pomegranate,  and  that  so  dried  up  as  not 
to  be  worth  eating.  Nevertheless,  since  there 
was  no  better  to  be  had,  he  brought  this  dry, 
old  withered  pomegranate  home  to  the  palace, 


222  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

put  it  on  a  magnificent  golden  salver,  and  carried 
it  up  to  Proserpina.  Now,  it  happened,  curi- 
ously enough,  that,  just  as  the  servant  was 
bringing  the  pomegranate  into  the  back  door  of 
the  palace,  our  friend  Quicksilver  had  gone  up 
the  front  steps,  on  his  errand  to  get  Proserpina 
away  from  King  Pluto. 

As  soon  as  Proserpina  saw  the  pomegranate 
on  the  golden  salver,  she  told  the  servant  he  had 
better  take  it  away  again. 

"  I  shall  not  touch  it,  I  assure  you,"  said  she. 
"  If  I  were  ever  so  hungry,  I  should  never  think 
of  eating  such  a  miserable,  dry  pomegranate 
as  that." 

"It  is  the  only  one  in  the  world,"  said  the 
servant. 

He  set  down  the  golden  salver,  with  the 
wizened  pomegranate  upon  it,  and  left  the  room. 
When  he  was  gone,  Proserpina  could  not  help 
coming  close  to  the  table,  and  looking  at  this 
poor  specimen  of  dried  fruit  with  a  great  deal 
of  eagerness;  for,  to  say  the  truth,  on  seeing 
something  that  suited  her  taste,  she  felt  all  the 
six  months'  appetite  taking  possession  of  her  at 
once.  To  be  sure,  it  was  a  very  wretched-look- 
ing pomegranate,  and  seemed  to  have  no  more 
juice  in  it  than  an  oyster  shell.  But  there  was 
no  choice  of  such  things  in  King  Pluto's  palace. 
This  was  the  first  fruit  she  had  seen  there, 
and  the  last  she  was  ever  likely  to  see;  air1 


'//  «s  /Ae  ow/y  owe  in  the  world"  said  the  servant 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       223 

unless  she  ate  it  up  immediately,  it  would  grow 
drier  than  it  already  was,  and  be  wholly  unfit 
to  eat. 

"  At  least,  I  may  smell  it,"  thought  Proserpina. 

So  she  took  up  the  pomegranate,  and  applied 
it  to  her  nose;  and,  somehow  or  other,  being 
in  such  close  neighborhood  to  her  mouth,  the 
fruit  found  its  way  into  that  little  red  cave. 
Dear  me!  what  an  everlasting  pity!  Before 
Proserpina  knew  what  she  was  about,  her  teeth 
had  actually  bitten  it,  of  their  own  accord. 
Just  as  this  fatal  deed  was  done,  the  door  of  the 
apartment  opened,  and  in  came  King  Pluto, 
followed  by  Quicksilver,  who  had  been  urging 
him  to  let  his  little  prisoner  go.  At  the  first 
noise  of  their  entrance,  Proserpina  withdrew 
the  pomegranate  from  her  mouth.  But  Quick- 
silver (whose  eyes  were  very  keen,  and  his  wits 
the  sharpest  that  ever  anybody  had)  perceived 
that  the  child  was  a  little  confused;  and  seeing 
the  empty  salver,  he  suspected  that  she  had 
been  taking  a  sly  nibble  of  something  or  other. 
As  for  honest  Pluto,  he  never  guessed  at  the 
secret. 

"My  little  Proserpina,"  said  the  king,  sitting 
down,  and  affectionately  drawing  her  between 
his  knees,  "here  is  Quicksilver,  who  tells  me 
that  a  great  many  misfortunes  have  befallen 
innocent  people  on  account  of  my  detaining  you 
in  my  dominions.  To  confess  the  truth,  I 

15 


*24  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

myself  had  already  reflected  that  it  was  an 
unjustifiable  act  to  take  you  away  from  your 
good  mother.  But,  then,  you  must  consider, 
my  dear  child,  that  this  vast  palace  is  apt  to  be 
gloomy  (although  the  precious  stones  certainly 
shine  very  bright),  and  that  I  am  not  of  the  most 
cheerful  disposition,  and  that  therefore  it  was  a 
natural  thing  enough  to  seek  for  the  society  of 
some  merrier  creature  than  myself.  I  hoped 
you  would  take  my  crown  for  a  plaything,  and 
me — ah,  you  laugh,  naughty  Proserpina — me, 
grim  as  I  am,  for  a  playmate.  It  was  a  silly 
expectation." 

"Not  so  extremely  silly,"  whispered  Proser- 
pina. "  You  have  really  amused  me  very  much, 
sometimes." 

"Thank  you,"  said  King  Pluto,  rather  dryly. 
"  But  I  can  see  plainly  enough,  that  you  think 
my  palace  a  dusky  prison,  and  me  the  iron- 
hearted  keeper  of  it.  And  an  iron  heart  I  should 
surely  have,  if  I  could  detain  you  here  any 
longer,  my  poor  child,  when  it  is  now  six  months 
since  you  tasted  food.  I  give  you  your  liberty. 
Go  with  Quicksilver.  Hasten  home  to  your 
dear  mother." 

Now,  although  you  may  not  have  supposed  it, 
Proserpina  found  it  impossible  to  take  leave 
of  poor  King  Pluto  without  some  regrets,  and  a 
good  deal  of  compunction  for  not  telling  him 
about  the  pomegranate.  She  even  shed  a  tear 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS       225 

or  two,  thinking  how  lonely  and  cheerless  the 
great  palace  would  seem  to  him,  with  all  its  ugly 
glare  of  artificial  light,  after  she  herself — his  one 
little  ray  of  natural  sunshine,  whom  he  had 
stolen,  to  be  sure,  but  only  because  he  valued 
her  so  much — after  she  should  have  departed. 
I  know  not  how  many  kind  things  she  might 
have  said  to  the  disconsolate  king  of  the  mines, 
had  not  Quicksilver  hurried  her  way. 

"Come  along  quickly,"  whispered  he  in  her 
ear,  "or  his  majesty  may  change  his  royal 
mind.  And  take  care,  above  all  things,  that 
you  say  nothing  of  what  was  brought  you  on 
the  golden  salver." 

In  a  very  short  time,  they  had  passed  the 
great  gateway  (leaving  the  three-headed  Cer- 
berus, barking,  and  yelping,  and  growling, 
with  threefold  din,  behind  them),  and  emerged 
upon  the  surface  of  the  earth.  It  was  delightful 
to  behold,  as  Proserpina  hastened  along,  how 
the  path  grew  verdant  behind  and  on  either  side 
of  her.  Wherever  she  set  her  blessed  foot, 
there  was  at  once  a  dewy  flower.  The  violets 
gushed  up  along  the  wayside.  The  grass  and 
the  grain  began  to  sprout  with  tenfold  vigor 
and  luxuriance,  to  make  up  for  the  dreary 
months  that  had  been  wasted  in  barrenness. 
The  starved  cattle  immediately  set  to  work 
grazing,  after  their  long  fast,  and  ate  enormously, 
all  day,  and  got  up  at  midnight  to  eat  more. 


226  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

But  I  can  assure  you  it  was  a  busy  time  of  year 
with  the  farmers,  when  they  found  the  summer 
coming  upon  them  with  such  a  rush.  Nor 
must  I  forget  to  say,  that  all  the  birds  in  the 
whole  world  hopped  about  upon  the  newly- 
blossoming  trees,  and  sang  together,  in  a  pro- 
digious ecstasy  of  joy. 

Mother  Ceres  had  returned  to  her  deserted 
home,  and  was  sitting  disconsolately  on  the 
doorstep,  with  her  torch  burning  in  her  hand. 
She  had  been  idly  watching  the  flame  for  some 
moments  past,  when,  all  at  once,  it  flickered 
and  went  out. 

"What  does  this  mean?"  thought  she.  "It 
was  an  enchanted  torch,  and  should  have  kept 
burning  till  my  child  came  back." 

Lifting  her  eyes,  she  was  surprised  to  see  a 
sudden  verdure  flashing  over  the  brown  and 
barren  fields,  exactly  as  you  may  have  observed 
a  golden  hue  gleaming  far  and  wide  across  the 
landscape,  from  the  just  risen  sun. 

"Does  the  earth  disobey  me?"  exclaimed 
Mother  Ceres,  indignantly.  "Does  it  presume 
to  be  green,  when  I  have  bidden  it  be  barren, 
until  my  daughter  shall  be  restored  to  my 
arms?" 

"  Then  open  your  arms,  dear  mother,"  cried  a 
well-known  voice,  "  and  take  your  little  daughter 
into  them." 

And    Proserpina   came   running,    and    flung 


THE  POMEGRANATE  SEEDS.       227 

herself  upon  her  mother's  bosom.  Their  mutual 
transport  is  not  to  be  described.  The  grief  of 
their  separation  had  caused  both  of  them  to  shed 
a  great  many  tears;  and  now  they  shed  a  great 
many  more,  because  their  joy  could  not  so  well 
express  itself  in  any  other  way. 

When  their  hearts  had  grown  a  little  more 
quiet,  Mother  Ceres  looked  anxiously  at  Proser- 
pina. 

"My  child,"  said  she,  "did  you  taste  any 
food  while  you  were  in  King  Pluto's  palace?" 

"Dearest  mother,"  exclaimed  Proserpina, 
"I  will  tell  you  the  whole  truth.  Until  this 
very  morning,  not  a  morsel  of  food  had  passed 
my  lips.  But  to-day,  they  brought  me  a  pome- 
granate (a  very  dry  one  it  was,  and  all  shriv- 
eled up,  till  there  was  little  left  of  it  but  seeds 
and  skin),  and  having  seen  no  fruit  for  so  long 
a  time,  and  being  faint  with  hunger,  I  was 
tempted  just  to  bite  it.  The  instant  I  tasted 
it,  King  Pluto  and  Quicksilver  came  into  the 
room.  I  had  not  swallowed  a  morsel;  but — 
dear  mother,  I  hope  it  was  no  harm — but  six 
of  the  pomegranate  seeds,  I  am  afraid,  remained 
in  my  mouth." 

"Ah,  unfortunate  child,  and  miserable  me!" 
exclaimed  Ceres.  "For  each  of  those  six 
pomegranate  seeds  you  must  spend  one  month 
of  every  year  in  King  Pluto's  palace.  You  are 
but  half  restored  to  your  mother.  Only  six 


228  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

months  with  me,  and  six  with  that  good-for- 
nothing  King  of  Darkness!" 

"Do  not  speak  so  harshly  of  poor  King 
Pluto,"  said  Prosperina,  kissing  her  mother. 
"He  has  some  very  good  qualities;  and  I  really 
think  I  can  bear  to  spend  six  months  in  his 
palace,  if  he  will  only  let  me  spend  the  other 
six  with  you.  He  certainly  did  very  wrong  to 
carry  me  off;  but  then,  as  he  says,  it  was  but  a 
dismal  sort  of  life  for  him,  to  live  in  that  great 
gloomy  place,  all  alone;  and  it  has  made  a 
wonderful  change  in  his  spirits  to  have  a  little 
girl  to  run  up  stairs  and  down.  There  is  some 
comfort  in  making  him  so  happy;  and  so, 
upon  the  whole,  dearest  mother,  let  us  be 
thankful  that  he  is  not  to  keep  me  the  whole 
year  round." 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE. 

When  Jason,  the  son  of  the  dethroned  King  of 
lolchos,  was  a  little  boy,  he  was  sent  away  from 
his  parents,  and  placed  under  the  queerest 
schoolmaster  that  ever  you  heard  of.  This 
learned  person  was  one  of  the  people,  or  quad- 
rupeds, called  Centaurs.  He  lived  in  a  cavern, 
and  had  the  body  and  legs  of  a  white  horse, 
with  the  head  and  shoulders  of  a  man.  His 
name  was  Chiron;  and,  in  spite  of  his  odd 
appearance,  he  was  a  very  excellent  teacher, 
and  had  several  scholars,  who  afterwards  did 
him  credit  by  making  a  great  figure  in  the 
world.  The  famous  Hercules  was  one,  and  so 
was  Achilles,  and  Philoctetes  likewise,  and 
^sculapius,  who  acquired  immense  repute  as  a 
doctor.  The  good  Chiron  taught  his  pupils  how 
to  play  upon  the  harp,  and  how  to  cure  diseases, 
and  how  to  use  the  sword  and  shield,  together 
with  various  other  branches  of  education,  in 
which  the  lads  of  those  days  used  to  be  in- 
structed, instead  of  writing  and  arithmetic. 

I    have    sometimes    suspected    that    Master 
Chiron  was  not  really  very  different  from  other 

229 


230  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

people,  but  that,  being  a  kind-hearted  and 
merry  old  fellow,  he  was  in  the  habit  of  making 
believe  that  he  was  a  horse,  and  scrambling 
about  the  schoolroom  on  all  fours,  and  letting 
the  little  boys  ride  upon  his  back.  And  so, 
when  his  scholars  had  grown  up,  and  grown 
old,  and  were  trotting  their  grandchildren  on 
their  knees,  they  told  them  about  the  sports  of 
their  school  days;  and  these  young  folks  took 
the  idea  that  their  grandfathers  had  been  taught 
their  letters  by  a  Centaur,  half  man  and  half 
horse.  Little  children,  not  quite  understanding 
what  is  said  to  them,  often  get  such  absurd 
notions  into  their  heads,  you  know. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  it  has  always  been  told 
for  a  fact  (and  always  will  be  told,  as  long  as 
the  world  lasts),  that  Chiron,  with  the  head 
of  a  schoolmaster,  had  the  body  and  legs  of  a 
horse.  Just  imagine  the  grave  old  gentleman 
clattering  and  stamping  into  the  schoolroom 
on  his  four  hoofs,  perhaps  treading  on  some 
little  fellow's  toes,  flourishing  his  switch  tail 
instead  of  a  rod,  and,  now  and  then,  trotting 
out  of  doors  to  eat  a  mouthful  of  grass!  I  won- 
der what  the  blacksmith  charged  him  for  a  set 
of  iron  shoes? 

So  Jason  dwelt  in  the  cave,  with  this  four- 
footed  Chiron,  from  the  time  that  he  was  an 
infant,  only  a  few  months  old,  until  he  had 
grown  to  the  full  height  of  a  man.  He  became 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  231 

a  very  good  harper,  I  suppose,  and  skilful  in  the 
use  of  weapons,  and  tolerably  acquainted  with 
herbs  and  other  doctor's  stuff,  and,  above  all, 
an  admirable  horseman;  for,  in  teaching  young 
people  to  ride,  the  good  Chiron  must  have  been 
without  a  rival  among  schoolmasters.  At 
length,  being  now  a  tall  and  athletic  youth, 
Jason  resolved  to  seek  his  fortune  in  the  world, 
without  asking  Chiron's  advice,  or  telling  him 
anything  about  the  matter.  This  was  very 
unwise,  to  be  sure ;  and  I  hope  none  of  you,  my 
little  hearers,  will  ever  follow  Jason's  example. 

But,  you  are  to  understand,  he  had  heard  how 
that  he  himself  was  a  prince  royal,  and  how 
his  father,  King  ^Eson,  had  been  deprived  of  the 
kingdom  of  lolchos  by  a  certain  Pelias,  who 
would  also  have  killed  Jason,  had  he  not  been 
hidden  in  the  Centaur's  cave.  And,  being  come 
to  the  strength  of  a  man,  Jason  determined  to 
set  all  this  business  to  rights,  and  to  punish  the 
wicked  Pelias  for  wronging  his  dear  father,  and 
to  cast  him  down  from  the  throne,  and  seat 
himself  there  instead. 

With  this  intention,  he  took  a  spear  in  each 
hand,  and  threw  a  leopard's  skin  over  his 
shoulders,  to  keep  off  the  rain,  and  set  forth  on 
his  travels,  with  his  long  yellow  ringlets  waving 
in  the  wind.  The  part  of  his  dress  on  which  he 
most  prided  himself  was  a  pair  of  sandals,  that 
had  been  his  father's.  They  were  handsomely 


232  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

embroidered,  and  were  tied  upon  his  feet  with 
strings  of  gold.  But  his  whole  attire  was  such  as 
people  did  not  very  often  see;  and  as  he  passed 
along,  the  women  and  children  ran  to  the  doors 
and  windows,  wondering  whither  this  beautiful 
youth  was  journeying,  with  his  leopard's  skin 
and  his  golden-tied  sandals,  and  what  heroic 
deeds  he  meant  to  perform,  with  a  spear  in  his 
right  hand  and  another  in  his  left. 

I  know  not  how  far  Jason  had  traveled, 
when  he  came  to  a  turbulent  river,  which  rushed 
right  across  his  pathway,  with  specks  of  white 
foam  among  its  black  eddies,  hurrying  tumul- 
tuously  onward,  and  roaring  angrily  as  it  went. 
Though  not  a  very  broad  river  in  the  dry  seasons 
of  the  year,  it  was  now  swollen  by  heavy  rains 
and  by  the  melting  of  the  snow  on  the  sides  of 
Mount  Olympus;  and  it  thundered  so  loudly, 
and  looked  so  wild  and  dangerous,  that  Jason, 
bold  as  he  was,  thought  it  prudent  to  pause  upon 
the  brink.  The  bed  of  the  stream  seemed  to  be 
strewn  with  sharp  and  rugged  rocks,  some  of 
which  thrust  themselves  above  the  water.  By 
and  by,  an  uprooted  tree,  with  shattered 
branches,  came  drifting  along  the  current,  and 
got  entangled  among  the  rocks.  Now  and  then, 
a  drowned  sheep,  and  once  the  carcass  of  a  cow, 
floated  past. 

In  short,  the  swollen  river  had  already  done  a 
great  deal  of  mischief.  It  was  evidently  too 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  233 

•deep  for  Jason  to  wade,  and  too  boisterous  for 
him  to  swim;  he  could  see  no  bridge;  and  as 
for  a  boat,  had  there  been  any,  the  rocks  would 
have  broken  it  to  pieces  in  an  instant. 

"See  the  poor  lad,"  said  a  cracked  voice 
close  to  his  side.  "He  must  have  had  but  a 
poor  education,  since  he  does  not  know  how  to 
cross  a  little  stream  like  this.  Or  is  he  afraid  of 
wetting  his  fine  golden-stringed  sandals?  It  is 
a  pity  his  four-footed  schoolmaster  is  not  here  to 
carry  him  safely  across  on  his  back!" 

Jason  looked  round  greatly  surprised,  for  he 
did  not  know  that  anybody  was  near.  But 
beside  him  stood  an  old  woman,  with  a  ragged 
mantle  over  her  head,  leaning  on  a  staff,  the 
top  of  which  was  carved  into  the  shape  of  a 
cuckoo.  She  looked  very  aged,  and  wrinkled, 
and  infirm;  and  yet  her  eyes,  which  were  as 
brown  as  those  of  an  ox,  were  so  extremely  large 
and  beautiful,  that,  when  they  were  fixed  on 
Jason's  eyes,  he  could  see  nothing  else  but 
them.  The  old  woman  had  a  pomegranate  in 
her  hand,  although  the  fruit  was  then  quite  out 
of  season. 

"Whither  are  you  going,  Jason?"  she  now 
asked. 

She  seemed  to  know  his  name,  you  will 
observe;  and,  indeed,  those  great  brown  eyes 
looked  as  if  they  had  a  knowledge  of  everything, 
whether  past  or  to  come.  While  Jason  was 


234  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

gazing  at  her,  a  peacock  strutted  forward, 
and  took  his  stand  at  the  old  woman's 
side. 

"  I  am  going  to  lolchos,"  answered  the  young 
man,  "  to  bid  the  wicked  King  Pelias  come  down 
from  my  father's  throne,  and  let  me  reign  in  his 
stead." 

"Ah,  well,  then,"  said  the  old  woman,  still 
with  the  same  cracked  voice,  "if  that  is  all 
your  business,  you  need  not  be  in  a  very  great 
hurry.  Just  take  me  on  your  back,  there's  a 
good  youth,  and  carry  me  across  the  river.  I 
and  my  peacock  have  something  to  do  on  the 
other  side,  as  well  as  yourself." 

"Good  mother,"  replied  Jason,  "your  busi- 
ness can  hardly  be  so  important  as  the  pulling 
down  a  king  from  his  throne.  Besides,  as  you 
may  see  for  yourself,  the  river  is  very  boisterous ; 
and  if  I  should  chance  to  stumble,  it  would  sweep 
both  of  us  away  more  easily  than  it  has  carried 
off  yonder  uprooted  tree.  I  would  gladly  help 
you  if  I  could ;  but  I  doubt  whether  I  am  strong 
enough  to  carry  you  across." 

"Then,"  said  she,  very  scornfully,  "neither 
are  you  strong  enough  to  pull  King  Pelias  off  his 
throne.  And,  Jason,  unless  you  will  help  an 
old  woman  at  her  need,  you  ought  not  to  be  a 
king.  What  are  kings  made  for,  save  to  succor 
the  feeble  and  distressed?  But  do  as  you 
please.  Either  take  me  on  your  back,  or  with 


"  I  am  going  to  lolchos,"  answered  the  young  man 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  235 

my  poor  old  limbs  I  shall  try  my  best  to  struggle 
across  the  stream." 

Saying  this,  the  old  woman  poked  with  her 
staff  in  the  river,  as  if  to  find  the  safest  place 
in  its  rocky  bed  where  she  might  make  the  first 
step.  But  Jason,  by  this  time,  had  grown 
ashamed  of  his  reluctance  to  help  her.  He  felt 
that  he  could  never  forgive  himself,  if  this  poor 
feeble  creature  should  come  to  any  harm  in 
attempting  to  wrestle  against  the  headlong 
current.  The  good  Chiron,  whether  half  horse 
or  no,  had  taught  him  that  the  noblest  use  of  his 
strength  was  to  assist  the  weak;  and  also  that 
he  must  treat  every  young  woman  as  if  she  were 
his  sister,  and  every  old  one  like  a  mother. 
Remembering  these  maxims,  the  vigorous  and 
beautiful  young  man  knelt  down,  and  requested 
the  good  dame  to  mount  upon  his  back. 

"The  passage  seems  to  me  not  very  safe,"  he 
remarked.  "  But  as  your  business  is  so  urgent, 
I  will  try  to  carry  you  across.  If  the  river 
sweeps  you  away,  it  shall  take  me  too." 

"That,  no  doubt,  will  be  a  great  comfort  to 
both  of  us,"  quoth  the  old  woman.  "  But  never 
fear.  We  shall  get  safely  across." 

So  she  threw  her  arms  around  Jason's  neck; 
and  lifting  her  from  the  ground,  he  stepped 
boldly  into  the  raging  and  foaming  current, 
and  began  to  stagger  away  from  the  shore.  As 
for  the  peacock,  it  alighted  on  the  old  dame's 


236  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

shoulder.  Jason's  two  spears,  one  in  each  hand, 
kept  him  from  stumbling,  and  enabled  him  to 
feel  his  way  among  the  hidden  rocks;  although 
every  instant,  he  expected  that  his  companion 
and  himself  would  go  down  the  stream,  together 
with  the  driftwood  of  shattered  trees,  and  the 
carcasses  of  the  sheep  and  cow.  Down  came  the 
cold,  snowy  torrent  from  the  steep  side  of 
Olympus,  raging  and  thundering  as  if  it  had  a 
real  spite  against  Jason,  or,  at  all  events,  were 
determined  to  snatch  off  his  living  burden  from 
his  shoulders.  When  he  was  half  way  across, 
the  uprooted  tree  (which  I  have  already  told  you 
about)  broke  loose  from  among  the  rocks,  and 
bore  down  upon  him,  with  all  its  splintered 
branches  sticking  out  like  the  hundred  arms  of 
the  giant  Briareus.  It  rushed  past,  however, 
without  touching  him.  But  the  next  moment  his 
foot  was  caught  in  a  crevice  between  two  rocks, 
and  stuck  there  so  fast,  that,  in  the  effort  to  get 
free,  he  lost  one  of  his  golden-stringed  sandals. 

At  this  accident  Jason  could  not  help  uttering 
a  cry  of  vexation. 

"What  is  the  matter,  Jason?"  asked  the 
old  woman. 

"Matter  enough,"  said  the  young  man.  "I 
have  lost  a  sandal  here  among  the  rocks.  And 
what  sort  of  a  figure  shall  I  cut,  at  the  court  of 
King  Pelias,  with  a  golden-stringed  sandal  on 
one  foot,  and  the  other  foot  bare!" 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  237 

"  Do  not  take  it  to  heart,"  answered  his  com- 
panion cheerily.  "You  never  met  with  better 
fortune  than  in  losing  that  sandal.  It  satisfies 
me  that  you  are  the  very  person  whom  the 
Speaking  Oak  has  been  talking  about." 

There  was  no  time,  just  then,  to  inquire  what 
the  Speaking  Oak  had  said.  But  the  briskness 
of  her  tone  encouraged  the  young  man;  and, 
besides,  he  had  never  in  his  life  felt  so  vigorous 
and  mighty  as  since  taking  this  old  woman  on  his 
back.  Instead  of  being  exhausted,  he  gathered 
strength  as  he  went  on;  and,  struggling  up 
against  the  torrent,  he  at  last  gained  the  oppo- 
site shore,  clambered  up  the  bank,  and  set  down 
the  old  dame  and  her  peacock  safely  on  the 
grass.  As  soon  as  this  was  done,  however, 
he  could  not  help  looking  rather  despondently  at 
his  bare  foot,  with  only  a  remnant  of  the  golden 
string  of  the  sandal  clinging  round  his  ankle. 

"You  will  get  a  handsomer  pair  of  sandals  by 
and  by,"  said  the  old  woman,  with  a  kindly  look 
out  of  her  beautiful  brown  eyes.  "Only  let 
King  Pelias  get  a  glimpse  of  that  bare  foot,  and 
you  shall  see  him  turn  as  pale  as  ashes,  I  promise 
you.  There  is  your  path.  Go  along,  my  good 
Jason,  and  my  blessing  go  with  you.  And  when 
you  sit  on  your  throne  remember  the  old  woman 
whom  you  helped  over  the  river." 

With  these  words,  she  hobbled  away,  giving 
him  a  smile  over  her  shoulder  as  she  departed. 


238  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Whether  the  light  of  her  beautiful  brown  eyes 
threw  a  glory  round  about  her,  or  whatever  the 
cause  might  be,  Jason  fancied  that  there  was 
something  very  noble  and  majestic  in  her  figure, 
after  all,  and  that,  though  her  gait  seemed  to  be 
a  rheumatic  hobble,  yet  she  moved  with  as  much 
grace  and  dignity  as  any  queen  on  earth.  Her 
peacock,  which  had  now  fluttered  down  from 
her  shoulder,  strutted  behind  her  in  a  prodigious 
pomp,  and  spread  out  its  magnificent  tail  on 
purpose  for  Jason  to  admire  it. 

When  the  old  dame  and  her  peacock  were  out 
of  sight,  Jason  set  forward  on  his  journey. 
After  traveling  a  pretty  long  distance,  he  came 
to  a  town  situated  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain, 
and  not  a  great  way  from  the  shore  of  the  sea. 
On  the  outside  of  the  town  there  was  an  immense 
crowd  of  people,  not  only  men  and  women,  but 
children  too,  all  in  their  best  clothes,  and 
evidently  enjoying  a  holiday.  The  crowd  was 
thickest  towards  the  sea-shore;  and  in  that 
direction,  over  the  people's  heads,  Jason  saw  a 
wreath  of  smoke  curling  upward  to  the  blue  sky. 
He  inquired  of  one  of  the  multitude  what  town 
it  was  near  by,  and  why  so  many  persons  were 
here  assembled  together. 

"This  is  the  kingdom  of  lolchos,"  answered  the 
man,"  and  we  are  the  subjects  of  King  Pelias. 
Our  monarch  has  summoned  us  together,  that 
we  may  see  him  sacrifice  a  black  bull  to  Neptune, 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  239 

who,  they  say,  is  his  majesty's  father.  Yonder 
is  the  king,  where  you  see  the  smoke  going  up 
from  the  altar." 

While  the  man  spoke  he  eyed  Jason  with  great 
curiosity;  for  his  garb  was  quite  unlike  that  of 
the  lolchians,  and  it  looked  very  odd  to  see  a 
youth  with  a  leopard's  skin  over  his  shoulders, 
and  each  hand  grasping  a  spear.  Jason  per- 
ceived, too,  that  the  man  stared  particularly  at 
his  feet,  one  of  which,  you  remember,  was  bare, 
while  the  other  was  decorated  with  his  father's 
golden-stringed  sandal. 

"Look  at  him!  only  look  at  him!"  said  the 
man  to  his  next  neighbor.  "Do  you  see?  He 
wears  but  one  sandal!" 

Upon  this,  first  one  person,  and  then  another, 
began  to  stare  at  Jason,  and  everybody  seemed 
to  be  greatly  struck  with  something  in  his  aspect ; 
though  they  turned  their  eyes  much  oftener 
towards  his  feet  than  to  any  other  part  of  his 
figure.  Besides,  he  could  hear  them  whispering 
to  one  another. 

"One  sandal!  One  sandal!"  they  kept  say- 
ing. "The  man  with  one  sandal!  Here  he  is 
at  last!  Whence  has  he  come?  What  does  he 
mean  to  do?  What  will  the  king  say  to  the 
one-sandaled  man  ? ' ' 

Poor  Jason  was  greatly  abashed,  and  made  up 
his  mind  that  the  people  of  lolchos  were  exceed- 
ingly ill-bred,  to  take  such  public  notice  of  an 

16 


240  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

accidental  deficiency  in  his  dress.  Meanwhile, 
whether  it  were  that  they  hustled  him  forward, 
or  that  Jason,  of  his  own  accord,  thrust  a 
passage  through  the  crowd,  it  so  happened  that 
he  soon  found  himself  close  to  the  smoking  altar, 
where  King  Pelias  was  sacrificing  the  black  bull. 
The  murmur  and  hum  of  the  multitude,  in 
their  surprise  at  the  spectacle  of  Jason  with  his 
one  bare  foot,  grew  so  loud  that  it  disturbed  the 
ceremonies;  and  the  king,  holding  the  great 
knife  with  which  he  was  just  going  to  cut  the 
bull's  throat,  turned  angrily  about,  and  fixed  his 
eyes  on  Jason.  The  people  had  now  withdrawn 
from  around  him,  so  that  the  youth  stood  in  an 
open  space,  near  the  smoking  altar,  front  to 
front  with  the  angry  King  Pelias. 

"Who  are  you?"  cried  the  king,  with  a 
terrible  frown.  "  And  how  dare  you  make  this 
disturbance,  while  I  am  sacrificing  a  black  bull 
to  my  father  Neptune?" 

"It  is  no  fault  of  mine,"  answered  Jason. 
"Your  majesty  must  blame  the  rudeness  of  your 
subjects,  who  have  raised  all  this  tumult  because 
one  of  my  feet  happens  to  be  bare." 

When  Jason  said  this,  the  king  gave  a  quick 
startled  glance  down  at  his  feet. 

"Ha!"  muttered  he,  "here  is  the  one-san- 
daled fellow,  sure  enough!  What  can  I  do 
with  him?" 

And  he  clutched  more  closely  the  great  knife 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  241 

in  his  hand,  as  if  he  were  half  a  mind  to  slay 
Jason,  instead  of  the  black  bull.  The  people 
round  about  caught  up  the  king's  words,  indis- 
tinctly as  they  were  uttered;  and  first  there 
was  a  murmur  amongst  them,  and  then  a  loud 
shout. 

"The  one-sandaled  man  has  come!  The 
prophecy  must  be  fulfilled!" 

For  you  are  to  know,  that,  many  years  before, 
King  Pelias  had  been  told  by  the  Speaking  Oak 
of  Dodona,  that  a  man  with  one  sandal  should 
cast  him  down  from  his  throne.  On  this 
account,  he  had  given  strict  orders  that  nobody 
should  ever  come  into  his  presence,  unless  both 
sandals  were  securely  tied  upon  his  feet;  and 
he  kept  an  officer  in  his  palace,  whose  sole  busi- 
ness it  was  to  examine  people's  sandals,  and 
to  supply  them  with  a  new  pair,  at  the  expense 
of  the  royal  treasury,  as  soon  as  the  old  ones 
began  to  wear  out.  In  the  whole  course  of  the 
king's  reign,  he  had  never  been  thrown  into  such 
a  fright  and  agitation  as  by  the  spectacle  of  poor 
Jason's  bare  foot.  But,  as  he  was  naturally  a 
bold  and  hard-hearted  man,  he  soon  took 
courage,  and  began  to  consider  in  what  way  he 
might  rid  himself  of  this  terrible  one-sandaled 
stranger. 

"My  good  young  man,"  said  King  Pelias, 
taking  the  softest  tone  imaginable,  in  order  to 
throw  Jason  off  his  guard,  "  you  are  excessively 


242  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

welcome  to  my  kingdom.  Judging  by  your 
dress,  you  must  have  traveled  a  long  distance, 
for  it  is  not  the  fashion  to  wear  leopard  skins 
in  this  part  of  the  world.  Pray  what  may  I  call 
your  name?  and  where  did  you  receive  your 
education?" 

"My  name  is  Jason,"  answered  the  young 
stranger.  "  Ever  since  my  infancy,  I  have  dwelt 
in  the  cave  of  Chiron  the  Centaur.  He  was  my 
instructor,  and  taught  me  music,  and  horseman- 
ship, and  how  to  cure  wounds,  and  likewise 
how  to  inflict  wounds  with  my  weapons!" 

"I  have  heard  of  Chiron  the  schoolmaster," 
replied  King  Pelias,  "and  how  that  there  is 
an  immense  deal  of  learning  and  wisdom  in  his 
head,  although  it  happens  to  be  set  on  a  horse's 
body.  It  gives  me  great  delight  to  see  one  of  his 
scholars  at  my  court.  But  to  test  how  much  you 
have  profited  under  so  excellent  a  teacher,  will 
you  allow  me  to  ask  you  a  single  question?" 

"I  do  not  pretend  to  be  very  wise,"  said 
Jason.  "But  ask  me  what  you  please,  and  I 
will  answer  to  the  best  of  my  ability." 

Now  King  Pelias  meant  cunningly  to  entrap 
the  young  man,  and  to  make  him  say  something 
that  should  be  the  cause  of  mischief  and  distrac- 
tion to  himself.  So,  with  a  crafty  and  evil 
smile  upon  his  face,  he  spoke  as  follows: 

"What  would  you  do,  brave  Jason,"  asked 
he,  "if  there  were  a  man  in  the  world,  by  whom, 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  243 

as  you  had  reason  to  believe,  you  were  doomed 
to  be  ruined  and  slain— what  would  you  do,  I 
say,  if  that  man  stood  before  you,  and  in  your 
power?" 

When  Jason  saw  the  malice  and  wickedness 
which  King  Pelias  could  not  prevent  from  gleam- 
ing out  of  his  eyes,  he  probably  guessed  that 
the  king  had  discovered  what  he  came  for,  and 
that  he  intended  to  turn  his  own  words  against 
himself.  Still  he  scorned  to  tell  a  falsehood. 
Like  an  upright  and  honorable  prince  as  he 
was,  he  determined  to  speak  out  the  real  truth. 
Since  the  king  had  chosen  to  ask  him  the 
question,  and  since  Jason  had  promised  him 
an  answer,  there  was  no  right  way  save  to  tell 
him  precisely  what  would  be  the  most  prudent 
thing  to  do,  if  he  had  his  worst  enemy  in  his 
power. 

Therefore,  after  a  moment's  consideration, 
he  spoke  up,  with  a  firm  and  manly  voice. 

"I  would  send  such  a  man,"  said  he,  "in 
quest  of  the  Golden  Fleece!" 

This  enterprise,  you  will  understand,  was,  of 
all  others,  the  most  difficult  and  dangerous  in  the 
world.  In  the  first  place  it  would  be  necessary 
to  make  a  long  voyage  through  unknown  seas. 
There  was  hardly  a  hope,  or  a  possibility,  that 
any  young  man  who  should  undertake  this 
voyage  would  either  succeed  in  obtaining  the 
Golden  Fleece,  or  would  survive  to  return  home, 


244  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

and  tell  of  the  perils  he  had  run.  The  eyes  of 
King  Pelias  sparkled  with  joy,  therefore,  when 
he  heard  Jason's  reply. 

"Well  said,  wise  man  with  the  one  sandal!" 
cried  he.  "Go,  then,  and  at  the  peril  of  your 
life,  bring  me  back  the  Golden  Fleece." 

"I  go,"  answered  Jason,  composedly.  "If  I 
fail,  you  need  not  fear  that  I  will  ever  come  back 
to  trouble  you  again.  But  if  I  return  to  lolchos 
with  the  prize,  then,  King  Pelias,  you  must 
hasten  down  from  your  lofty  throne,  and  give 
me  your  crown  and  sceptre." 

"That  I  will,"  said  the  king,  with  a  sneer. 
"Meantime,  I  will  keep  them  very  safely  for 
you." 

The  first  thing  that  Jason  thought  of  doing, 
after  he  left  the  king's  presence,  was  to  go  to 
Dodona,  and  inquire  of  the  Talking  Oak  what 
course  it  was  best  to  pursue.  This  wonderful 
tree  stood  in  the  center  of  an  ancient  wood. 
Its  stately  trunk  rose  up  a  hundred  feet  into 
the  air,  and  threw  a  broad  and  dense  shadow 
over  more  than  an  acre  of  ground.  Standing 
beneath  it,  Jason  looked  up  among  the  knotted 
branches  and  green  leaves,  and  into  the  mys- 
terious heart  of  the  old  tree,  and  spoke  aloud, 
as  if  he  were  addressing  some  person  who  was 
hidden  in  the  depths  of  the  foliage. 

"What  shall  I  do,"  said  he,  "in  order  to  win 
the  Golden  Fleece?" 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  245 

At  first  there  was  a  deep  silence,  not  only 
within  the  shadow  of  the  Talking  Oak,  but  all 
through  the  solitary  wood.  In  a  moment  or 
two,  however,  the  leaves  of  the  oak  began  to 
stir  and  rustle,  as  if  a  gentle  breeze  were  wander- 
ing amongst  them,  although  the  other  trees  of 
the  wood  were  perfectly  still.  The  sound  grew 
louder,  and  became  like  the  roar  of  a  high  wind. 
By  and  by,  Jason  imagined  that  he  could  dis- 
tinguish words,  but  very  confusedly,  because 
each  separate  leaf  of  the  tree  seemed  to  be  a 
tongue,  and  the  whole  myriad  of  tongues  were 
babbling  at  once.  But  the  noise  waxed  broader 
and  deeper,  until  it  resembled  a  tornado  sweep- 
ing through  the  oak,  and  making  one  great 
-utterance  out  of  the  thousand  and  thousand  of 
little  murmurs  which  each  leafy  tongue  had 
caused  by  its  rustling.  And  now,  though  it 
still  had  the  tone  of  a  mighty  wind  roaring 
among  the  branches,  it  was  also  like  a  deep  bass 
voice,  speaking  as  distinctly  as  a  tree  could 
be  expected  to  speak,  the  following  words: 

"Go  to  Argus,  the  shipbuilder,  and  bid  him 
build  a  galley  with  fifty  oars." 

Then  the  voice  melted  again  into  the  indis- 
tinct murmur  of  the  rustling  leaves,  and  died 
gradually  away.  When  it  was  quite  gone, 
Jason  felt  inclined  to  doubt  whether  he  had 
actually  heard  the  words,  or  whether  his  fancy 
had  not  shaped  them  out  of  the  ordinary  sound 


246  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

made  by  a  breeze,  while  passing  through  the 
thick  foliage  of  the  tree. 

But  on  inquiry  among  the  people  of  lolchos, 
he  found  that  there  was  really  a  man  in  the 
city,  by  the  name  of  Argus,  who  was  a  very 
skilful  builder  of  vessels.  This  showed  some 
intelligence  in  the  oak;  else  how  should  it  have 
known  that  any  such  person  existed?  At 
Jason's  request,  Argus  readily  consented  to 
build  him  a  galley  so  big  that  it  should  require 
fifty  strong  men  to  row  it;  although  no  vessel 
of  such  a  size  and  burden  had  heretofore  been 
seen  in  the  world.  So  the  head  carpenter  and 
all  his  journeymen  and  apprentices  began  their 
work;  and  for  a  good  while  afterwards,  there 
they  were,  busily  employed,  hewing  out  the 
timbers,  and  making  a  great  clatter  with  their 
hammers;  until  the  new  ship,  which  was  called 
the  Argo,  seemed  to  be  quite  ready  for  sea. 
And,  as  the  Talking  Oak  had  already  given  him 
such  good  advice,  Jason  thought  that  it  would 
not  be  amiss  to  ask  for  a  little  more.  He  visited 
it  again,  therefore,  and  standing  beside  its 
huge,  rough  trunk,  inquired  what  he  should 
do  next. 

This  time,  there  was  no  such  universal 
quivering  of  the  leaves,  throughout  the  whole 
tree,  as  there  had  been  before.  But  after  a 
while,  Jason  observed  that  the  foliage  of  a 
great  branch  which  stretched  above  his  head 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  247 

had  begun  to  rustle,  as  if  the  wind  were  stirring 
that  one  bough,  while  all  the  other  boughs  of 
the  oak  were  at  rest. 

"Cut  me  off!"  said  the  branch,  as  soon  as 
it  could  speak  distinctly;  "cut  me  off!  cut  me 
off!  and  carve  me  into  a  figure-head  for  your 
galley." 

Accordingly,  Jason  took  the  branch  at  its 
word,  and  lopped  it  off  the  tree.  A  carver  in 
the  neighborhood  engaged  to  make  the  figure- 
head. He  was  a  tolerably  good  workman,  and 
had  already  carved  several  figure-heads,  in 
what  he  intended  for  feminine  shapes,  and 
looking  pretty  much  like  those  which  we  see 
nowadays  stuck  up  under  a  vessel's  bowsprit, 
with  great  staring  eyes,  that  never  wink  at  the 
dash  of  the  spray.  But  (what  was  very  strange) 
the  carver  found  that  his  hand  was  guided  by 
some  unseen  power,  and  by  a  skill  beyond  his 
own,  and  that  his  tools  shaped  out  an  image 
which  he  had  never  dreamed  of.  When  the 
work  was  finished,  it  turned  out  to  be  the  figure 
of  a  beautiful  woman,  with  a  helmet  on  her  head, 
from  beneath  which  the  long  ringlets  fell  down 
upon  her  shoulders.  On  the  left  arm  was  a 
shield,  and  in  its  center  appeared  a  lifelike 
representation  of  the  head  of  Medusa  with  the 
snaky  locks.  The  right  arm  was  extended,  as 
if  pointing  onward.  The  face  of  this  wonderful 
statue,  though  not  angry  or  forbidding,  was  so 


248  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

grave  and  majestic,  that  perhaps  you  might  call 
it  severe;  and  as  for  the  mouth,  it  seemed  just 
ready  to  unclose  its  lips,  and  utter  words  of  the 
deepest  wisdom. 

Jason  was  delighted  with  the  oaken  image,  and 
gave  the  carver  no  rest  until  it  was  completed, 
and  set  up  where  a  figure-head  has  always  stood, 
from  that  time  to  this,  in  the  vessel's  prow. 

"And  now,"  cried  he,  as  he  stood  gazing  at 
the  calm,  majestic  face  of  the  statue,  "  I  must 
go  to  the  Talking  Oak  and  inquire  what  next 
to  do." 

"  There  is  no  need  of  that,  Jason,"  said  a  voice 
which,  though  it  was  far  lower,  reminded  him 
of  the  mighty  tones  of  the  great  oak.  "When 
you  desire  good  advice,  you  can  seek  it  of  me." 

Jason  had  been  looking  straight  into  the  face 
of  the  image  when  these  words  were  spoken. 
But  he  could  hardly  believe  either  his  ears  or 
his  eyes.  The  truth  was,  however,  that  the 
oaken  lips  had  moved,  and,  to  all  appearance, 
the  voice  had  proceeded  from  the  statue's 
mouth.  Recovering  a  little  from  his  surprise, 
Jason  bethought  himself  that  the  image  had 
been  carved  out  of  the  wood  of  the  Talking  Oak, 
and  that,  therefore,  it  was  really  no  great 
wonder,  but  on  the  contrary,  the  most  natural 
thing  in  the  world,  that  it  should  possess  the 
faculty  of  speech.  It  would  have  been  very 
odd,  indeed,  if  it  had  not.  But  certainly  it 


Jason  was  delighted  with  the  oaken  image,  and  gave  the  carver  no  rest 
until  it  was  completed 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  249 

was  a  great  piece  of  good  fortune  that  he  should 
be  able  to  carry  so  wise  a  block  of  wood  along 
with  him  in  his  perilous  voyage. 

"  Tell  me,  wondrous  image,"  exclaimed  Jason, 
— "  since  you  inherit  the  wisdom  of  the  Speaking 
Oak  of  Dodona,  whose  daughter  you  are, — tell 
me,  where  shall  I  find  fifty  bold  youths,  who 
will  take  each  of  them  an  oar  of  my  galley? 
They  must  have  sturdy  arms  to  row,  and  brave 
hearts  to  encounter  perils,  or  we  shall  never  win 
the  Golden  Fleece." 

" Go,"  replied  the  oaken  image,  "go,  summon 
all  the  heroes  of  Greece." 

And,  in  fact,  considering  what  a  great  deed 
was  to  be  done,  could  any  advice  be  wiser  than 
this  which  Jason  received  from  the  figure-head 
of  his  vessel?  He  lost  no  time  in  sending 
messengers  to  all  the  cities,  and  making  known 
to  the  whole  people  of  Greece,  that  Prince 
Jason,  the  son  of  King  ^Eson,  was  going  in  quest 
of  the  Fleece  of  Gold,  and  that  he  desired  the 
help  of  forty-nine  of  the  bravest  and  strongest 
young  men  alive,  to  row  his  vessel  and  share  his 
dangers.  And  Jason  himself  would  be  the 
fiftieth. 

At  this  news,  the  adventurous  youths,  all 
over  the  country,  began  to  bestir  themselves. 
Some  of  them  had  already  fought  with  giants, 
and  slain  dragons;  and  the  younger  ones,  who 
had  not  yet  met  with  such  good  fortune,  thought 


250  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

it  a  shame  to  have  lived  so  long  without  getting 
astride  of  a  flying  serpent,  or  sticking  their  spears 
into  a  Chimaera,  or,  at  least,  thrusting  their 
right  arms  down  a  monstrous  lion's  throat. 
There  was  a  fair  prospect  that  they  would  meet 
with  plenty  of  such  adventures  before  finding 
the  Golden  Fleece.  As  soon  as  they  could 
furbish  up  their  helmets  and  shields,  therefore, 
and  gird  on  their  trusty  swords,  they  came 
thronging  to  lolchos,  and  clambered  on  board 
the  new  galley.  Shaking  hands  with  Jason, 
they  assured  him  that  they  did  not  care  a  pin 
for  their  lives,  but  would  help  row  the  vessel  to 
the  remotest  edge  of  the  world,  and  as  much 
farther  as  he  might  think  it  best  to  go. 

Many  of  these  brave  fellows  had  been  educated 
by  Chiron,  the  four-footed  pedagogue,  and  were 
therefore  old  schoolmates  of  Jason,  and  knew 
him  to  be  a  lad  of  spirit.  The  mighty  Hercules, 
whose  shoulders  afterwards  upheld  the  sky,  was 
one  of  them.  And  there  were  Castor  and 
Pollux,  the  twin  brothers,  who  were  never 
accused  of  being  chicken-hearted,  although  they 
had  been  hatched  out  of  an  egg;  and  Theseus, 
who  was  so  renowned  for  killing  the  Minotaur, 
and  Lynceus,  with  his  wonderfully  sharp  eyes, 
which  could  see  through  a  millstone,  or  look 
right  down  into  the  depths  of  the  earth,  and 
discover  the  treasures  that  were  there;  and 
Orpheus,  the  very  best  of  harpers,  who  sang 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  251 

and  played  upon  his  lyre  so  sweetly,  that  the 
brute  beasts  stood  upon  their  hind  legs,  and 
capered  merrily  to  the  music.  Yes,  and  at 
some  of  his  more  moving  tunes,  the  rocks 
bestirred  their  moss-grown  bulk  out  of  the 
ground,  and  a  grove  of  forest  trees  uprooted 
themselves,  and,  nodding  their  tops  to  one 
another,  performed  a  country  dance. 

One  of  the  rowers  was  a  beautiful  young 
woman,  named  Atalanta.  who  had  been  nursed 
among  the  mountains  by  a  bear.  So  light  of 
foot  was  this  fair  damsel,  that  she  could  step 
from  one  foamy  crest  of  a  wave  to  the  foamy 
'crest  of  another,  without  wetting  more  than 
the  sole  of  her  sandal.  She  had  grown  up  in  a 
very  wild  way,  and  talked  much  about  the 
rights  of  women,  and  loved  hunting  and  war 
far  better  than  her  needle.  But  in  my  opinion, 
the  most  remarkable  of  this  famous  company 
were  two  sons  of  the  North  Wind  (airy  young- 
sters, and  of  rather  a  blustering  disposition) 
who  had  wings  on  their  shoulders,  and,  in  case  of 
a  calm,  could  puff  out  their  cheeks,  and  blow 
almost  as  fresh  a  breeze  as  their  father.  I 
ought  not  to  forget  the  prophets  and  conjurors, 
of  whom  there  were  several  in  the  crew,  and 
who  could  foretell  what  would  happen  to-morrow 
or  the  next  day,  or  a  hundred  years  hence,  but 
were  generally  quite  unconscious  of  what  was 
passing  at  the  moment. 


25 2  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

Jason  appointed  Tiphys  to  be  helmsman 
because  he  was  a  star-gazer,  and  knew  the  points 
of  the  compass.  Lynceus,  on  account  of  his 
sharp  sight,  was  stationed  as  a  look-out  in  the 
prow,  where  he  saw  a  whole  day's  sail  ahead, 
but  was  rather  apt  to  overlook  things  that  lay 
directly  under  his  nose.  If  the  sea  only  hap- 
pened to  be  deep  enough,  however,  Lynceus 
could  tell  you  exactly  what  kind  of  rocks  or 
sands  were  at  the  bottom  of  it;  and  he  often 
cried  out  to  his  companions,  that  they  were 
sailing  over  heaps  of  sunken  treasure,  which 
yet  he  was  none  the  richer  for  beholding.  To 
confess  the  truth,  few  people  believed  him  when 
he  said  it. 

Well!  But  when  the  Argonauts,  as  these 
fifty  brave  adventurers  were  called,  had  pre- 
pared everything  for  the  voyage,  an  unforeseen 
difficulty  threatened  to  end  it  before  it  was 
begun.  The  vessel,  you  must  understand,  was 
so  long,  and  broad,  and  ponderous,  that  the 
united  force  of  all  the  fifty  was  insufficient  to 
shove  her  into  the  water.  Hercules,  I  suppose, 
had  not  grown  to  his  full  strength,  else  he  might 
have  set  her  afloat  as  easily  as  a  little  boy 
launches  his  boat  upon  a  puddle.  But  here 
were  these  fifty  heroes,  pushing,  and  straining, 
and  growing  red  in  the  face,  without  making 
the  Argo  start  an  inch.  At  last,  quite  wearied 
out,  they  sat  themselves  down  on  the  shore 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  253 

exceedingly  disconsolate,  and  thinking  that  the 
vessel  must  be  left  to  rot  and  fall  in  pieces,  and 
that  they  must  either  swim  across  the  sea  or 
lose  the  Golden  Fleece. 

All  at  once,  Jason  bethought  himself  of  the 
galley's  miraculous  figure-head. 

"O,  daughter  of  the  Talking  Oak,"  cried  he, 
"  how  shall  we  set  to  work  to  get  our  vessel  into 
the  water?" 

"Seat  yourselves,"  answered  the  image  (for 
it  had  known  what  had  ought  to  be  done  from 
the  very  first,  and  was  only  waiting  for  the 
question  to  be  put), — "seat  yourselves,  and 
handle  your  oars,  and  let  Orpheus  play  upon 
his  harp." 

Immediately  the  fifty  heroes  got  on  board, 
and  seizing  their  oars,  held  them  perpendicu- 
larly in  the  air,  while  Orpheus  (who  liked  such 
a  task  far  better  than  rowing)  swept  his  fingers 
across  the  harp.  At  the  first  ringing  note 
of  the  music,  they  felt  the  vessel  stir.  Orpheus 
thrummed  away  briskly,  and  the  galley  slid 
at  once  into  the  sea,  dipping  her  prow 
so  deeply  that  the  figure-head  drank  the  wave 
with  its  marvelous  lips,  and  rising  again  as 
buoyant  as  a  swan.  The  rowers  plied  their 
fifty  oars;  the  white  foam  boiled  up  before 
the  prow;  the  water  gurgled  and  bubbled 
in  their  wake;  while  Orpheus  continued  to 
play  so  lively  a  strain  of  music,  that  the  vessel 


254  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

seemed  to  dance  over  the  billows  by  way  of 
keeping  time  to  it.  Thus  triumphantly  did  the 
Argo  sail  out  of  the  harbor,  amidst  the  huzzas 
and  good  wishes  of  everybody  except  the  wicked 
old  Pelias,  who  stood  on  a  promontory,  scowling 
at  her,  and  wishing  that  he  could  blow  out  of  his 
lungs  the  tempest  of  wrath  that  was  in  his 
heart,  and  so  sink  the  galley  with  all  on  board. 
When  they  had  sailed  above  fifty  miles  over  the 
sea,  Lynceus  happened  to  cast  his  sharp  eyes 
behind,  and  said  that  there  was  this  bad-hearted 
king,  still  perched  upon  the  promontory,  and 
scowling  so  gloomily  that  it  looked  like  a  black 
thunder-cloud  in  that  quarter  of  the  horizon. 

In  order  to  make  the  time  pass  away  more 
pleasantly  during  the  voyage,  the  heroes  talked 
about  the  Golden  Fleece.  It  originally  belonged, 
it  appears,  to  a  Boeotian  ram,  who  had  taken  on 
his  back  two  children,  when  in  danger  of  their 
lives,  and  fled  with  them  over  land  and  sea  as 
far  as  Colchis.  One  of  the  children,  whose  name 
was  Helle,  fell  into  the  sea  and  was  drowned. 
But  the  other  (a  little  boy,  named  Phrixus)  was 
brought  safe  ashore  by  the  faithful  ram,  who, 
however,  was  so  exhausted  that  he  immediately 
lay  down  and  died.  In  memory  of  this  good 
deed,  and  as  a  token  of  his  true  heart,  the  fleece 
of  the  poor  dead  ram  was  miraculously  changed 
to  gold,  and  became  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
objects  ever  seen  on  earth.  It  was  hung  upon  a 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  255 

tree  in  a  sacred  grove,  where  it  had  now  been 
kept  I  know  not  how  many  years,  and  was  the 
envy  of  mighty  kings,  who  had  nothing  so 
magnificent  in  any  of  their  palaces. 

If  I  were  to  tell  you  all  the  adventures  of  the 
Argonauts,  it  would  take  me  till  nightfall,  and 
perhaps  a  great  deal  longer.  There  was  no  lack 
of  wonderful  events,  as  you  may  judge  from 
what  you  have  already  heard.  At  a  certain 
island,  they  were  hospitably  received  by  King 
Cyzicus,  its  sovereign,  who  made  a  feast  for 
them,  and  treated  them  like  brothers.  But  the 
Argonauts  saw  that  this  good  king  looked  down- 
cast and  very  much  troubled,  and  they  there- 
fore inquired  of  him  what  was  the  matter.  King 
Cyzicus  hereupon  informed  them  that  he  and 
his  subjects  were  greatly  abused  and  incom- 
moded by  the  inhabitants  of  a  neighboring 
mountain,  who  made  war  upon  them,  and  killed 
many  people,  and  ravaged  the  country.  And 
while  they  were  talking  about  it,  Cyzicus 
pointed  to  the  mountain,  and  asked  Jason  and 
his  companions  what  they  saw  there. 

"I  see  some  very  tall  objects,"  answered 
Jason;  ''but  they  are  at  such  a  distance  that  I 
cannot  distinctly  make  out  what  they  are.  To 
tell  your  majesty  the  truth,  they  look  so  very 
strangely  that  I  am  inclined  to  think  them 
clouds,  which  have  chanced  to  take  something 
like  human  shapes." 

17 


256  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"  I  see  them  very  plainly,"  remarked  Lynceus, 
whose  eyes,  you  know,  were  as  far-sighted  as  a 
telescope.  "They  are  a  band  of  enormous 
giants,  all  of  whom  have  six  arms  apiece,  and 
a  club,  a  sword,  or  some  other  weapon  in  each 
of  their  hands." 

"  You  have  excellent  eyes,"  said  King  Cyzicus. 
"Yes;  they  are  six-armed  giants,  as  you  say, 
and  these  are  the  enemies  whom  I  and  my  sub- 
jects have  to  contend  with." 

The  next  day,  when  the  Argonauts  were  about 
setting  sail,  down  came  these  terrible  giants, 
stepping  a  hundred  yards  at  a  stride,  brandish- 
ing their  six  arms  apiece,  and  looking  formid- 
able, so  far  aloft  in  the  air.  Each  of  these 
monsters  was  able  to  carry  on  a  whole  war  by 
himself,  for  with  one  arm  he  could  fling  immense 
stones,  and  wield  a  club  with  another,  and  a 
sword  with  a  third,  while  the  fourth  was  poking 
a  long  spear  at  the  enemy,  and  the  fifth  and 
sixth  were  shooting  him  with  a  bow  and  arrow. 
But,  luckily,  though  the  giants  were  so  huge, 
and  had  so  many  arms,  they  had  each 
but  one  heart,  and  that  no  bigger  nor  braver 
than  the  heart  of  an  ordinary  man.  Besides,  if 
they  had  been  like  the  hundred-armed  Briareus, 
the  brave  Argonauts  would  have  given  them 
their  hands  full  of  fight.  Jason  and  his  friends 
went  boldly  to  meet  them,  slew  a  great  many, 
and  made  the  rest  take  to  their  heels,  so  that, 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  257 

if  the  giants  had  had  six  legs  apiece  instead  of 
six  arms,  it  would  have  served  them  better  to 
run  away  with. 

Another  strange  adventure  happened  when  the 
voyagers  came  to  Thrace,  where  they  found  a 
poor  blind  king,  named  Phineus,  deserted  by 
his  subjects,  and  living  in  a  very  sorrowful  way, 
all  by  himself.  On  Jason's  inquiring  whether 
they  could  do  him  any  service,  the  king  answered 
that  he  was  terribly  tormented  by  three  great 
winged  creatures,  called  Harpies,  which  had 
the  faces  of  women,  and  the  wings,  bodies,  and 
claws  of  vultures.  These  ugly  wretches  were 
in  the  habit  of  snatching  away  his  dinner,  and 
allowed  him  no  peace  of  his  life.  Upon  hear- 
ing this,  the  Argonauts  spread  a  plentiful  feast 
on  the  sea-shore,  well  knowing,  from  what  the 
blind  king  said  of  their  greediness,  that  the 
Harpies  would  snuff  up  the  scent  of  the  victuals, 
and  quickly  come  to  steal  them  away.  And  so 
it  turned  out;  for,  hardly  was  the  table  set, 
before  the  three  hideous  vulture  women  came 
flapping  their  wings,  seized  the  food  in  their 
talons,  and  flew  off  as  fast  as  they  could.  But 
the  two  sons  of  the,  North  Wind  drew  their 
swords,  spread  their  pinions,  and  set  off  through 
the  air  in  pursuit  of  the  thieves,  whom  they  at 
last  overtook  among  some  islands,  after  a  chase 
of  hundreds  of  miles.  The  two  winged  youths 
blustered  terribly  at  the  Harpies  (for  they  had 


258  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

the  rough  temper  of  their  father),  and  so  fright- 
ened them  with  their  drawn  swords,  that  they 
solemnly  promised  never  to  trouble  King 
Phineus  again. 

Then  the  Argonauts  sailed  onward  and  met 
with  many  other  marvelous  incidents,  any  one 
of  which  would  make  a  story  by  itself.  At  one 
time  they  landed  on  an  island,  and  were  repos- 
ing on  the  grass,  when  they  suddenly  found 
themselves  assailed  by  what  seemed  a  shower 
of  steel-headed  arrows.  Some  of  them  stuck  in 
the  ground,  while  others  hit  against  their 
shields,  and  several  penetrated  their  flesh.  The 
fifty  heroes  started  up,  and  looked  about  them 
for  the  hidden  enemy,  but  could  find  none,  nor 
see  any  spot,  on  the  whole  island,  where  even  a 
single  archer  could  lie  concealed.  Still,  how- 
ever, the  steel-headed  arrows  came  whizzing 
among  them;  and,  at  last,  happening  to  look 
upward,  they  beheld  a  large  flock  of  birds,  hover- 
ing and  wheeling  aloft,  and  shooting  their 
feathers  down  upon  the  Argonauts.  These 
feathers  were  the  steel-headed  arrows  that  had 
so  tormented  them.  There  was  no  possibility 
of  making  any  resistance;  and  the  fifty  heroic 
Argonauts  might  all  have  been  killed  or  wounded 
by  a  flock  of  troublesome  birds,  without  ever 
setting  eyes  on  the  Golden  Fleece,  if  Jason  had 
not  thought  of  asking  the  advice  of  the  oaken 
image. 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  259 

So  he  ran  to  the  galley  as  fast  as  his  legs 
would  carry  him. 

"O,  daughter  of  the  Speaking  Oak, "  cried 
he,  all  out  of  breath,  "we  need  your  wisdom 
more  than  ever  before!  We  are  in  great  peril 
from  a  flock  of  birds,  who  are  shooting  us  with 
their  steel-pointed  feathers.  What  can  we  do 
to  drive  them  away?" 

"Make  a  clatter  on  your  shields,"  said  the 
image. 

On  receiving  this  excellent  counsel,  Jason 
hurried  back  to  his  companions  (who  were  far 
more  dismayed  than  when  they  fought  with 
the  six-armed  giants),  and  bade  them  strike 
with  their  swords  upon  their  brazen  shields. 
Forthwith  the  fifty  heroes  set  heartily  to  work, 
banging  with  might  and  main,  and  raised  such 
a  terrible  clatter,  that  the  birds  made  what  haste 
they  could  to  get  away;  and  though  they  had 
shot  half  the  feathers  out  of  their  wings,  they 
were  soon  seen  skimming  among  the  clouds,  a 
long  distance  off,  and  looking  like  a  flock  of 
wild  geese.  Orpheus  celebrated  this  victory 
by  playing  a  triumphant  anthem  on  his  harp, 
and  sang  so  melodiously  that  Jason  begged  him 
to  desist,  lest,  as  the  steel-feathered  birds  had 
been  driven  away  by  an  ugly  sound,  they  might 
be  enticed  back  again  by  a  sweet  one. 

While  the  Argonauts  remained  on  this  island, 
they  saw  a  small  vessel  approaching  the  shore, 


260  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

in  which  were  two  young  men  of  princely 
demeanor,  and  exceedingly  handsome,  as  young 
princes  generally  were,  in  those  days.  Now, 
who  do  you  imagine  these  two  voyagers  turned 
out  to  be?  Why,  if  you  will  believe  me,  they 
were  the  sons  of  that  very  Phrixus,  who,  in  his 
childhood,  had  been  carried  to  Colchis  on  the 
back  of  the  golden-fleeced  ram.  Since  that 
time,  Phrixus  had  married  the  king's  daughter; 
and  the  two  young  princes  had  been  born  and 
brought  up  at  Colchis,  and  had  spent  their 
play-days  in  the  outskirts  of  the  grove,  in  the 
center  of  which  the  Golden  Fleece  was  hanging 
upon  a  tree.  They  were  now  on  their  way  to 
Greece,  in  hopes  of  getting  back  a  kingdom 
that  had  been  wrongfully  taken  from  their 
father. 

When  the  princes  understood  whither  the 
Argonauts  were  going,  they  offered  to  turn  back, 
and  guide  them  to  Colchis.  At  the  same  time, 
however,  they  spoke  as  if  it  were  very  doubtful 
whether  Jason  would  succeed  in  getting  the 
Golden  Fleece.  According  to  their  account,  the 
tree  on  which  it  hung  was  guarded  by  a  terrible 
dragon,  who  never  failed  to  devour,  at  one 
mouthful,  every  person  who  might  venture 
within  his  reach. 

"There  are  other  difficulties  in  the  way," 
continued  the  young  princes.  "  But  is  not  this 
enough?  Ah,  brave  Jason,  turn  back  before  it 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  261 

is  too  late.  It  would  grieve  us  to  the  heart,  if 
you  and  your  nine  and  forty  brave  companions 
should  be  eaten  up,  at  fifty  mouthfuls,  by  this 
execrable  dragon." 

"My  young  friends,"  quietly  replied  Jason, 
"I  do  not  wonder  that  you  think  the  dragon 
very  terrible.  You  have  grown  up  from  infancy 
in  the  fear  of  this  monster,  and  therefore  still 
regard  him  with  the  awe  that  children  feel  for 
the  bugbears  and  hobgoblins  which  their  nurses 
have  talked  to  them  about.  But,  in  my  view  of 
the  matter,  the  dragon  is  merely  a  pretty  large 
serpent,  who  is  not  half  so  likely  to  snap  me  up 
at  one  mouthful  as  I  am  to  cut  off  his  ugly  head, 
and  strip  the  skin  from  his  body.  At  all  events, 
turn  back  who  may,  I  will  never  see  Greece 
again,  unless  I  carry  with  me  the  Golden  Fleece." 

"We  will  none  of  us  turn  back!"  cried  his 
nine  and  forty  brave  comrades.  "Let  us  get 
on  board  the  galley  this  instant;  and  if  the 
dragon  is  to  make  a  breakfast  of  us,  much  good 
may  it  do  him." 

And  Orpheus  (whose  custom  it  was  to  set 
everything  to  music)  began  to  harp  and  sing 
most  gloriously,  and  made  every  mother's  son  of 
them  feel  as  if  nothing  in  this  world  were  so 
delectable  as  to  fight  dragons,  and  nothing  so 
truly  honorable  as  to  be  eaten  up  at  one 
mouthful,  in  case  of  the  worst. 

After  this  (being  now  under  the  guidance  of 


262  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

the  two  princes,  who  were  well  acquainted  with 
the  way),  they  quickly  sailed  to  Colchis.  When 
the  king  of  the  country,  whose  name  was  ^Eetes, 
heard  of  their  arrival,  he  instantly  summoned 
Jason  to  court.  The  king  was  a  stern  and  cruel 
looking  potentate;  and  though  he  put  on  as 
polite  and  hospitable  an  expression  as  he  could, 
Jason  did  not  like  his  face  a  whit  better  than 
that  of  the  wicked  King  Pelias,  who  dethroned 
his  father. 

"You  are  welcome,  brave  Jason,"  said  King 
.^Eetes.  "Pray,  are  you  on  a  pleasure  voyage? 
— or  do  you  meditate  the  discovery  of  unknown 
islands? — or  what  other  cause  has  procured  me 
the  happiness  of  seeing  you  at  my  court?" 

"Great  sir,"  replied  Jason,  with  an  obeisance 
— for  Chiron  had  taught  him  how  to  behave 
with  propriety,  whether  to  kings  or  beggars — 
"I  have  come  hither  with  a  purpose  which  I 
now  beg  your  majesty's  permission  to  execute. 
King  Pelias,  who  sits  on  my  father's  throne  (to 
which  he  has  no  more  right  than  to  the  one  on 
which  your  excellent  majesty  is  now  seated), 
has  engaged  to  come  down  from  it,  and  to  give 
me  his  crown  and  sceptre,  provided  I  bring  him 
the  Golden  Fleece.  This,  as  your  majesty  is 
aware,  is  now  hanging  on  a  tree  here  at  Colchis ; 
and  I  humbly  solicit  your  gracious  leave  to  take 
it  away." 

In  spite  of  himself,  the  king's  face  twisted 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  263 

itself  into  an  angry  frown;  for,  above  all  things 
else  in  the  world,  he  prized  the  Golden  Fleece, 
and  was  even  suspected  of  having  done  a  very 
wicked  act,  in  order  to  get  it  into  his  own 
possession.  It  put  him  into  the  worst  possible 
humor,  therefore,  to  hear  that  the  gallant 
Prince  Jason,  and  forty-nine  of  the  bravest 
young  warriors  of  Greece,  had  come  to  Colchis 
with  the  sole  purpose  of  taking  away  his  chief 
treasure. 

"Do  you  know,"  asked  King  ^Eetes,  eyeing 
Jason  very  sternly,  "what  are  the  conditions 
which  you  must  fulfill  before  getting  possession 
of  the  Golden  Fleece?" 

"I  have  heard,"  rejoined  the  youth,  "that 
a  dragon  lies  beneath  the  tree  on  which  the 
prize  hangs,  and  that  whoever  approaches  him 
runs  the  risk  of  being  devoured  at  a  mouthful." 

"True,"  said  the  king,  with  a  smile  that  did 
not  look  particularly  good-natured.  "Very 
true,  young  man.  But  there  are  other  things 
as  hard,  or  perhaps  a  little  harder,  to  be  done 
before  you  can  even  have  the  privilege  of  being 
devoured  by  the  dragon.  For  example,  you 
must  first  tame  my  two  brazen-footed  and 
brazen-lunged  bulls,  which  Vulcan,  the  wonder- 
ful blacksmith,  made  for  me.  There  is  a  furnace 
in  each  of  their  stomachs;  and  they  breathe 
such  hot  fire  out  of  their  mouths  and  nostrils, 
that  nobody  has  hitherto  gone  nigh  them 


264  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

without  being  instantly  burned  to  a  small,  black 
cinder.  What  do  you  think  of  this,  my  brave 
Jason?" 

"I  must  encounter  the  peril,"  answered 
Jason,  composedly,  "  since  it  stands  in  the  way 
of  my  purpose." 

"After  taming  the  fiery  bulls,"  continued 
King  ^Eetes,  who  was  determined  to  scare  Jason 
if  possible,  "you  must  yoke  them  to  a  plow, 
and  must  plow  the  sacred  earth  in  the  Grove 
of  Mars,  and  sow  some  of  the  same  dragon's 
teeth  from  which  Cadmus  raised  a  crop  of  armed 
men.  They  are  an  unruly  set  of  reprobates, 
those  sons  of  the  dragon's  teeth;  and  unless  you 
treat  them  suitably,  they  will  fall  upon  you 
sword  in  hand.  You  and  your  nine  and  forty 
Argonauts,  my  bold  Jason,  are  hardly  numerous 
or  strong  enough  to  fight  with  such  a  host  as 
will  spring  up." 

"My  master  Chiron,"  replied  Jason,  "taught 
me,  long  ago,  the  story  of  Cadmus.  Perhaps  I 
can  manage  the  quarrelsome  sons  of  the  dragon's 
teeth  as  well  as  Cadmus  did." 

"  I  wish  the  dragon  had  him,"  muttered  King 
^Eetes  to  himself,  "and  the  four-footed  pedant, 
his  schoolmaster,  into  the  bargain.  Why,  what 
a  foolhardy,  self -conceited  coxcomb  he  is! 
We'll  see  what  my  fire-breathing  bulls  will  do 
for  him.  Well,  Prince  Jason,"  he  continued, 
aloud,  and  as  complaisantly  as  he  could,  "  make 


She  was  one  of  those  persons  whose  eyes  are  full  of  mystery 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  265 

yourself  comfortable  for  to-day,  and  to-morrow 
morning,  since  you  insist  upon  it,  you  shall  try 
your  skill  at  the  plow." 

While  the  king  talked  with  Jason,  a  beautiful 
young  woman  was  standing  behind  the  throne. 
She  fixed  her  eyes  earnestly  upon  the  youthful 
stranger,  and  listened  attentively  to  every  word 
that  was  spoken;  and  when  Jason  withdrew 
from  the  king's  presence,  this  young  woman 
followed  him  out  of  the  room. 

"I  am  the  king's  daughter,"  she  said  to  him, 
"  and  my  name  is  Medea.  I  know  a  great  deal 
of  which  other  young  princesses  are  ignorant, 
and  can  do  many  things  which  they  would  be 
afraid  so  much  as  to  dream  of.  If  you  will 
trust  to  me,  I  can  instruct  you  how  to  tame  the 
fiery  bulls,  and  sow  the  dragon's  teeth,  and  get 
the  Golden  Fleece." 

"  Indeed,  beautiful  princess,"  answered  Jason, 
"  if  you  will  do  me  this  service,  I  promise  to  be 
grateful  to  you  my  whole  life  long.'" 

Gazing  at  Medea,  he  beheld  a  wonderful 
intelligence  in  her  face.  She  was  one  of  those 
persons  whose  eyes  are  full  of  mystery;  so 
that,  while  looking  into  them,  you  seem  to  see  a 
very  great  way,  as  into  a  deep  well,  yet  can 
never  be  certain  whether  you  see  into  the 
farthest  depths,  or  whether  there  be  not  some- 
thing else  hidden  at  the  bottom.  If  Jason  had 
been  capable  of  fearing  anything,  he  would 


266  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

have  been  afraid  of  making  this  young  princess 
his  enemy;  for,  beautiful  as  she  now  looked, 
she  might,  the  very  next  instant,  become  as 
terrible  as  the  dragon  that  kept  watch  over  the 
Golden  Fleece. 

"Princess,"  he  exclaimed,  "you  seem  indeed 
very  wise  and  very  powerful.  But  how  can 
you  help  me  to  do  the  things  of  which  you 
speak?  Are  you  an  enchantress?" 

"Yes,  Prince  Jason,"  answered  Medea,  with 
a  smile,  "you  have  hit  upon  the  truth.  I  am 
an  enchantress.  Circe,  my  father's  sister,  taught 
me  to  be  one,  and  I  could  tell  you,  if  I  pleased, 
who  was  the  old  woman  with  the  peacock,  the 
pomegranate,  and  the  cuckoo  staff,  whom  you 
carried  over  the  river;  and,  likewise,  who  it  is 
that  speaks  through  the  lips  of  the  oaken  image, 
that  stands  in  the  prow  of  your  galley.  I  am 
acquainted  with  some  of  your  secrets,  you  per- 
ceive. It  is  well  for  you  that  I  am  favorably 
inclined ;  for,  otherwise,  you  would  hardly  escape 
being  snapped  up  by  the  dragon." 

"I  should  not  so  much  care  for  the  dragon," 
replied  Jason,  "if  I  only  knew  how  to  manage 
the  brazen-footed  and  fiery-lunged  bulls." 

"  If  you  are  as  brave  as  I  think  you,  and  as 
you  have  need  to  be,"  said  Medea,  "your  own 
bold  heart  will  teach  you  that  there  is  but  one 
way  of  dealing  with  a  mad  bull.  What  it  is  I 
leave  you  to  find  out  in  the  moment  of  peril. 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  267 

As  for  the  fiery  breath  of  these  animals,  I  have 
a  charmed  ointment  here,  which  will  prevent 
you  from  being  burned  up,  and  cure  you  if  you 
chance  to  be  a  little  scorched." 

So  she  put  a  golden  box  into  his  hand,  and 
directed  him  how  to  apply  the  perfumed  unguent 
which  it  contained,  and  where  to  meet  her  at 
midnight. 

"Only  be  brave,"  added  she,  "and  before 
daybreak  the  brazen  bulls  shall  be  tamed." 

The  young  man  assured  her  that  his  heart 
would  not  fail  him.  He  then  rejoined  his 
comrades,  and  told  them  what  had  passed 
between  the  princess  and  himself,  and  warned 
them  to  be  in  readiness  in  case  there  might  be 
need  of  their  help. 

At  the  appointed  hour  he  met  the  beautiful 
Medea  on  the  marble  steps  of  the  king's  palace. 
She  gave  him  a  basket,  in  which  were  the 
dragon's  teeth,  just  as  they  had  been  pulled  out 
of  the  monster's  jaws  by  Cadmus,  long  ago. 
Medea  then  led  Jason  down  the  palace  steps,  and 
through  the  silent  streets  of  the  city,  and  into 
the  royal  pasture  ground,  where  the  two  brazen- 
footed  bulls  were  kept.  It  was  a  starry  night, 
with  a  bright  gleam  along  the  eastern  edge  of 
the  sky,  where  the  moon  was  soon  going  to 
show  herself.  After  entering  the  pasture,  the 
princess  paused  and  looked  around. 

"There  they  are,"  said  she,  "reposing  them- 


268  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

selves  and  chewing  their  fiery  cuds  in  that 
farthest  corner  of  the  field.  It  will  be  excellent 
sport,  I  assure  you,  when  they  catch  a  glimpse 
of  your  figure.  My  father  and  all  his  court 
delight  in  nothing  so  much  as  to  see  a  stranger 
trying  to  yoke  them,  in  order  to  come  at  the 
Golden  Fleece.  It  makes  a  holiday  in  Colchis 
whenever  such  a  thing  happens.  For  my  part, 
I  enjoy  it  immensely.  You  cannot  imagine  in 
what  a  mere  twinkling  of  an  eye  their  hot  breath 
shrivels  a  young  man  into  a  black  cinder." 

"Are  you  sure,  beautiful  Medea,"  asked 
Jason,  "quite  sure,  that  the  unguent  in  the 
gold  box  will  prove  a  remedy  against  those 
terrible  burns?" 

"  If  you  doubt,  if  you  are  in  the  least  afraid," 
said  the  princess,  looking  him  in  the  face  by  the 
dim  starlight,  "you  had  better  never  have  been 
born  than  to  go  a  step  nigher  to  the  bulls." 

But  Jason  had  set  his  heart  steadfastly  on 
getting  the  Golden  Fleece;  and  I  positively 
doubt  whether  he  would  have  gone  back  without 
it,  even  had  he  been  certain  of  finding  himself 
turned  into  a  red-hot  cinder,  or  a  handful  of 
white  ashes,  the  instant  he  made  a  step  farther. 
He  therefore  let  go  Medea's  hand,  and  walked 
boldly  forward  in  the  direction  whither  she  had 
pointed.  At  some  distance  before  him  he  per- 
ceived four  streams  of  fiery  vapor,  regularly  ap- 
pearing and  again  vanishing,  after  dimly  lighting 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE  269 

up  the  surrounding  obscurity.  These,  you  will 
understand,  were  caused  by  the  breath  of  the 
brazen  bulls,  which  was  quietly  stealing  out  of 
their  four  nostrils,  as  they  lay  chewing  their  cuds. 
At  the  first  two  or  three  steps  which  Jason 
made,  the  four  fiery  streams  appeared  to  gush 
out  somewhat  more  plentifully;  for  the  two 
brazen  bulls  had  heard  his  foot  tramp,  and 
were  lifting  up  their  hot  noses  to  snuff  the  air. 
He  went  a  little  farther,  and  by  the  way  in 
which  the  red  vapor  now  spouted  forth,  he 
judged  that  the  creatures  had  got  upon  their 
feet.  Now  he  could  see  glowing  sparks,  and 
vivid  jets  of  flame.  At  the  next  step,  each  of 
the  bulls  made  the  pasture  echo  with  a  terrible 
roar,  while  the  burning  breath,  which  they  thus 
belched  forth,  lit  up  the  whole  field  with  a 
momentary  flash.  One  other  stride  did  bold 
Jason  make;  and,  suddenly  as  a  streak  of 
lightning,  on  came  these  fiery  animals,  roaring 
like  thunder,  and  sending  out  sheets  of  white 
flame,  which  so  kindled  up  the  scene  that  the 
young  man  could  discern  every  object  more 
distinctly  than  by  daylight.  Most  distinctly 
of  all  he  saw  the  two  horrible  creatures  galloping 
right  down  upon  him,  their  brazen  hoofs  rat- 
tling and  ringing  over  the  ground,  and  their  tails 
sticking  up  stiffly  into  the  air,  as  has  always 
been  the  fashion  with  angry  bulls.  Their  breath 
scorched  the  herbage  before  them.  So  intensely 


270  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

hot  it  was,  indeed,  that  it  caught  a  dry  tree  under 
which  Jason  was  now  standing,  and  set  it  all  in 
a  light  blaze.  But  as  for  Jason  himself  (thanks 
to  Medea's  enchanted  ointment),  the  white  flame 
curled  around  his  body,  without  injuring  him  a 
jot  more  than  if  he  had  been  made  of  asbestos. 

Greatly  encouraged  at  finding  himself  not 
yet  turned  into  a  cinder,  the  young  man  awaited 
the  attack  of  the  bulls.  Just  as  the  brazen 
brutes  fancied  themselves  sure  of  tossing  him 
into  the  air,  he  caught  one  of  them  by  the  horn, 
and  the  other  by  his  screwed-up  tail,  and  held 
them  in  a  gripe  like  that  of  an  iron  vice,  one  with 
his  right  hand,  the  other  with  his  left.  Well,  he 
must  have  been  wonderfully  strong  in  his  arms, 
to  be  sure.  But  the  secret  of  the  matter  was, 
that  the  brazen  bulls  were  enchanted  creatures, 
and  that  Jason  had  broken  the  spell  of  their 
fiery  fierceness  by  his  bold  way  of  handling 
them.  And,  ever  since  that  time,  it  has  been 
the  favorite  method  of  brave  men,  when  danger 
assails  them,  to  do  what  they  call  "taking  the 
bull  by  the  horns  " ;  and  to  gripe  him  by  the  tail 
is  pretty  much  the  same  thing — that  is,  to  throw 
aside  fear,  and  overcome  the  peril  by  despising  it. 

It  was  now  easy  to  yoke  the  bulls,  and  to 
harness  them  to  the  plow,  which  had  lain 
rusting  on  the  ground  for  a  great  many  years 
gone  by;  so  long  was  it  before  anybody  could 
be  found  capable  of  plowing  that  piece  of  land. 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  27! 

Jason,  I  suppose,  had  been  taught  how  to  draw 
a  furrow  by  the  good  old  Chiron,  who,  perhaps, 
used  to  allow  himself  to  be  harnessed  to  the 
plow.  At  any  rate,  our  hero  succeeded  per- 
fectly well  in  breaking  up  the  greensward;  and, 
by  the  time  that  the  moon  was  a  quarter  of 
her  journey  up  the  sky,  the  plowed  field 
lay  before  him,  a  large  tract  of  black  earth, 
ready  to  be  sown  with  the  dragon's  teeth.  So 
Jason  scattered  them  broadcast,  and  harrowed 
them  into  the  soil  with  a  brush-harrow,  and 
took  his  stand  on  the  edge  of  the  field,  anxious 
to  see  what  would  happen  next. 

" Must  we  wait  long  for  harvest  time?"  he  in- 
quired of  Medea,  who  was  now  standing  by  his  side. 

"Whether  sooner  or  later,  it  will  be  sure  to 
come,"  answered  the  princess.  "A  crop  of 
armed  men  never  fails  to  spring  up,  when  the 
dragon's  teeth  have  been  sown." 

The  moon  was  now  high  aloft  in  the  heavens, 
and  threw  its  bright  beams  over  the  plowed 
field,  where  as  yet  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen. 
Any  farmer,  on  viewing  it,  would  have  said  that 
Jason  must  wait  weeks  before  the  green  blades 
would  peep  from  among  the  clods,  and  whole 
months  belore  the  yellow  grain  would  be  ripened 
for  the  sickle.  But  by  and  by,  all  over  the 
field,  there  was  something  that  glistened  in  the 
moonbeams,  like  sparkling  drops  of  dew.  These 
bright  objects  sprouted  higher,  and  proved  to  be 

18 


2  72  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

the  steel  heads  of  spears.  Then  there  was  a 
dazzling  gleam  from  a  vast  number  of  polished 
brass  helmets,  beneath  which,  as  they  grew 
farther  out  of  the  soil,  appeared  the  dark  and 
bearded  visages  of  warriors,  struggling  to  free 
themselves  from  the  imprisoning  earth.  The 
first  look  that  they  gave  at  the  upper  world 
was  a  glare  of  wrath  and  defiance.  Next  were 
seen  their  bright  breastplates;  in  every  right 
hand  there  was  a  sword  or  a  spear,  and  on  each 
left  arm  a  shield;  and  when  this  strange  crop 
of  warriors  had  but  half  grown  out  of  the  earth, 
they  struggled — such  was  their  impatience  of 
restraint — and,  as  it  were,  tore  themselves  up 
by  the  roots.  Wherever  a  dragon's  tooth  had 
fallen,  there  stood  a  man  armed  for  battle. 
They  made  a  clangor  with  their  swords  against 
their  shields,  and  eyed  one  another  fiercely; 
for  they  had  come  into  this  beautiful  world, 
and  into  the  peaceful  moonlight,  full  of  rage 
and  stormy  passions,  and  ready  to  take  the  life 
of  every  human  brother,  in  recompense  of  the 
boon  of  their  own  existence. 

There  have  been  many  other  armies  in  the 
world  that  seemed  to  possess  the  same  fierce 
nature  with  the  one  which  had  now  sprouted 
from  the  dragon's  teeth ;  but  these,  in  the  moon- 
lit field,  were  the  more  excusable,  because  they 
never  had  women  for  their  mothers.  And  how 
it  would  have  rejoiced  any  great  captain,  who 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  273 

was  bent  on  conquering  the  world,  like  Alexander 
or  Napoleon,  to  raise  a  crop  of  armed  soldiers 
as  easily  as  Jason  did! 

For  a  while,  the  warriors  stood  flourishing 
their  weapons,  clashing  their  swords  against 
their  shields,  and  boiling  over  with  the  red-hot 
thirst  for  battle.  Then  they  began  to  shout — 
"Show  us  the  enemy!  Lead  us  to  the  charge! 
Death  or  victory!"  Come  on,  brave  comrades! 
Conquer  or  die!"  and  a  hundred  other  outcries, 
such  as  men  always  bellow  forth  on  a  battle 
field,  and  which  these  dragon  people  seemed  to 
have  at  their  tongues'  ends.  At  last,  the  front 
rank  caught  sight  of  Jason,  who,  beholding  the 
flash  of  so  many  weapons  in  the  moonlight, 
had  thought  it  best  to  draw  his  sword.  In  a 
moment  all  the  sons  of  the  dragon's  teeth 
appeared  to  take  Jason  for  an  enemy;  and 
crying  with  one  voice,  "Guard  the  Golden 
Fleece!"  they  ran  at  him  with  uplifted  swords 
and  protruded  spears.  Jason  knew  that  it 
would  be  impossible  to  withstand  this  blood- 
thirsty battalion  with  his  single  arm,  but  deter- 
mined, since  there  was  nothing  better  to  be  done, 
to  die  as  valiantly  as  if  he  himself  had  sprung 
from  a  dragon's  tooth. 

Medea,  however,  bade  him  snatch  up  a  stone 
from  the  ground. 

"Throw  it  among  them  quickly!"  cried  she. 
"  It  is  the  only  way  to  save  yourself." 


274  TANGLE  WOOD  TALES. 

•  The  armed  men  were  now  so  nigh  that  Jason 
could  discern  the  fire  flashing  out  of  their 
enraged  eyes,  when  he  let  fly  the  stone,  and 
saw  it  strike  the  helmet  of  a  tall  warrior,  who 
was  rushing  upon  him  with  his  blade  aloft.  The 
stone  glanced  from  this  man's  helmet  to  the 
shield  of  his  nearest  comrade,  and  thence  flew 
right  into  the  angry  face  of  another,  hitting  him 
smartly  between  the  eyes.  Each  of  the  three 
who  had  been  struck  by  the  stone  took  it  for 
granted  that  his  next  neighbor  had  given  him 
a  blow;  and  instead  of  running  any  farther 
towards  Jason,  they  began  to  fight  among  them- 
selves. The  confusion  spread  through  the  host, 
so  that  it  seemed  scarcely  a  moment  before 
they  were  all  hacking,  hewing,  and  stabbing  at 
one  another,  lopping  off  arms,  heads,  and  legs 
and  doing  such  memorable  deeds  that  Jason 
was  filled  with  immense  admiration;  although, 
at  the  same  time,  he  could  not  help  laughing 
to  \  behold  these  mighty  men  punishing  each 
other  for  an  offense  which  he  himself  had  com- 
mitted. In  an  incredibly  short  space  of  time 
(almost  as  short,  indeed,  as  it  had  taken  them 
to  grow  up),  all  but  one  of  the  heroes  of  the 
dragon's  teeth  were  stretched  lifeless  on  the  field. 
The  last  survivor,  the  bravest  and  strongest 
of  the  whole,  had  just  force  enough  to  wave 
his  crimson  sword  over  his  head  and  give  a 
shout  of  exultation,  crying,  "Victory!  Victory! 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  275 

Immortal  fame!"  when  he  himself  fell  down, 
and  lay  quietly  among  his  slain  brethren. 

And  there  was  the  end  of  the  army  that  had 
sprouted  from  the  dragon's  teeth.  That  fierce 
and  feverish  fight  was  the  only  enjoyment 
which  they  had  tasted  on  this  beautiful  earth. 

"Let  them  sleep  in  the  bed  of  honor,"  said 
the  Princess  Medea,  with  a  sly  smile  at  Jason. 
"  The  world  will  always  have  simpletons  enough, 
just  like  them,  fighting  and  dying  for  they  know 
not  what,  and  fancying  that  posterity  will  take 
the  trouble  to  put  laurel  wreaths  on  their  rusty 
and  battered  helmets.  Could  you  help  smiling, 
Prince  Jason,  to  see  the  self-conceit  of  that  last 
fellow,  just  as  he  tumbled  down?" 

"It  made  me  very  sad,"  answered  Jason, 
gravely.  "And,  to  tell  you  the  truth,  princess, 
the  Golden  Fleece  does  not  appear  so  well  worth 
the  winning,  after  what  I  have  here  beheld!" 

"You  will  think  differently  in  the  morning," 
said  Medea.  "True,  the  Golden  Fleece  may 
not  be  so  valuable  as  you  have  thought  it;  but 
then  there  is  nothing  better  in  the  world ;  and  one 
must  needs  have  an  object,  you  know.  Come! 
Your  night's  work  has  been  well  performed; 
and  to-morrow  you  can  inform  King  ^Eetes  that 
the  first  part  of  your  allotted  task  is  fulfilled." 

Agreeably  to  Medea's  advice,  Jason  went 
betimes  in  the  morning  to  the  palace  of  King 
^Eetes.  Entering  the  presence  chamber,  he 


276  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

stood  at  the  foot  of  the  throne,  and  made  a  low 
obeisance. 

"Your  eyes  look  heavy,  Prince  Jason," 
observed  the  king;  "you  appear  to  have  spent  a 
sleepless  night.  I  hope  you  have  been  con- 
sidering the  matter  a  little  more  wisely,  and 
have  concluded  not  to  get  yourself  scorched  to  a 
cinder,  in  attempting  to  tame  my  brazen-lunged 
bulls." 

"  That  is  already  accomplished,  may  it  please 
your  majesty,"  replied  Jason.  "  The  bulls  have 
been  tamed  and  yoked;  the  field  has  been 
plowed;  the  dragon's  teeth  have  been  sown 
broadcast,  and  harrowed  into  the  soil;  the  crop 
of  armed  warriors  have  sprung  up,  and  they 
have  slain  one  another,  to  the  last  man.  And 
now  I  solicit  your  majesty's  permission  to 
encounter  the  dragon,  that  I  may  take  down 
the  Golden  Fleece  from  the  tree,  and  depart, 
with  my  nine  and  forty  comrades." 

King  ^Eetes  scowled,  and  looked  very  angry 
and  excessively  disturbed;  for  he  knew  that,  in 
accordance  with  his  kingly  promise,  he  ought 
now  to  permit  Jason  to  win  the  Fleece,  if  his 
courage  and -skill  should  enable  him  to  do  so. 
But,  since  the  young  man  had  met  with  such 
good  luck  in  the  matter  of  the  brazen  bulls  and 
the  dragon's  teeth,  the  king  feared  that  he  would 
be  equally  successful  in  slaying  the  dragon. 
And  therefore,  though  he  would  gladly  have 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  277 

seen  Jason  snapped  up  at  a  mouthful,  he  was 
resolved  (and  it  was  a  very  wrong  thing  of  this 
wicked  potentate)  not  to  run  any  further  risk 
of  losing  his  beloved  Fleece. 

"You  never  would  have  succeeded  in  this 
business,  young  man,"  said  he,  "if  my  undutiful 
daughter  Medea  had  not  helped  you  with  her 
enchantments.  Had  you  acted  fairly,  you  would 
have  been,  at  this  instant,  a  black  cinder, 
or  a  handful  of  white  ashes.  I  forbid  you,  on 
pain  of  death,  to  make  any  more  attempts  to 
get  the  Golden  Fleece.  To  speak  my  mind 
plainly,  you  shall  never  set  eyes  on  so  much 
as  one  of  its  glistening  locks." 

Jason  left  the  king's  presence  in  great  sorrow 
and  anger.  He  could  think  of  nothing  better 
to  be  done  than  to  summon  together  his  forty- 
nine  brave  Argonauts,  march  at  once  to  the 
Grove  of  Mars,  slay  the  dragon,  take  possession 
of  the  Golden  Fleece,  get  on  board  the  Argo, 
and  spread  all  sail  for  lolchos.  The  success  of 
this  scheme  depended,  it  is  true,  on  the  doubtful 
point  whether  all  the  fifty  heroes  might  not  be 
snapped  up,  at  so  many  mouthfuls,  by  the 
dragon.  But,  as  Jason  was  hastening  down  the 
palace  steps,  the  Princess  Medea  called  after  him, 
and  beckoned  him  to  return.  Her  black  eyes 
shone  upon  him  with  such  a  keen  intelligence, 
that  he  felt  as  if  there  were  a  serpent  peeping 
out  of  them;  and,  although  she  had  done  him 


278  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

so  much  service  only  the  night  before,  he  was 
by  no  means  very  certain  that  she  would  not 
do  him  an  equally  great  mischief  before  sunset. 
These  enchantresses,  you  must  know,  are  never 
to  be  depended  upon. 

"What  says  King  ^Eetes,  my  royal  and 
upright  father?"  inquired  Medea,  slightly  smil- 
ing. "Will  he  give  you  the  Golden  Fleece, 
without  any  further  risk  or  trouble?" 

"On  the  contrary,"  answered  Jason,  "he  is 
very  angry  with  me  for  taming  the  brazen  bulls 
and  sowing  the  dragon's  teeth.  And  he  forbids 
me  to  make  any  more  attempts,  and  positively 
refuses  to  give  up  the  Golden  Fleece,  whether  I 
slay  the  dragon  or  no." 

"Yes,  Jason,"  said  the  princess,  "and  I  can 
tell  you  more.  Unless  you  set  sail  from  Colchis 
before  to-morrow's  sunrise,  the  king  means  to 
burn  your  fifty-oared  galley,  and  put  yourself 
and  your  forty-nine  brave  comrades  to  the 
sword.  But  be  of  good  courage.  The  Golden 
Fleece  you  shall  have,  if  it  lies  within  the  power 
of  my  enchantments  to  get  it  for  you.  Wait 
for  me  here  an  hour  before  midnight." 

At  the  appointed  hour  you  might  again  have 
seen  Prince  Jason  and  the  Princess  Medea, 
side  by  side,  stealing  through  the  streets  of 
Colchis,  on  their  way  to  the  sacred  grove,  in  the 
center  of  which  the  Golden  Fleece  was  suspended 
to  a  tree.  While  they  were  crossing  the  pasture 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  279 

ground,  the  brazen  bulls  came  towards  Jason, 
lowing,  nodding  their  heads,  and  thrusting 
forth  their  snouts,  which,  as  other  cattle  do, 
they  loved  to  have  rubbed  and  caressed  by  a 
friendly  hand.  Their  fierce  nature  was  thor- 
oughly tamed;  and,  with  their  fierceness,  the 
two  furnaces  in  their  stomachs  had  likewise  been 
extinguished,  insomuch  that  they  probably 
enjoyed  far  more  comfort  in  grazing  and  chewing 
their  cuds  than  ever  before.  Indeed,  it  had 
heretofore  been  a  great  inconvenience  to  these 
poor  animals,  that,  whenever  they  wished  to 
eat  a  mouthful  of  grass,  the  fire  out  of  their 
nostrils  had  shriveled  it  up,  before  they  could 
manage  to  crop  it.  How  they  contrived  to  keep 
themselves  alive  is  more  than  I  can  imagine. 
But  now,  instead  of  emitting  jets  of  flame  and 
streams  of  sulphurous  vapor,  they  breathed 
the  very  sweetest  of  cow  breath. 

After  kindly  patting  the  bulls,  Jason  followed 
Medea's  guidance  into  the  Grove  of  Mars,  where 
the  great  oak  trees,  that  had  been  growing  for 
centuries,  threw  so  thick  a  shade  that  the 
moonbeams  struggled  vainly  to  find  their  way 
through  it.  Only  here  and  there  a  glimmer  fell 
upon  the  leaf-strewn  earth,  or  now  and  then  a 
breeze  stirred  the  boughs  aside,  and  gave  Jason 
a  glimpse  of  the  sky,  lest,  in  that  deep  obscurity, 
he  might  forget  that  there  was  one,  overhead. 
At  length,  when  they  had  gone  farther  and 


28o  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

farther  into  the  heart  of  the  duskiness,  Medea 
squeezed  Jason's  hand. 

"Look  yonder,"  she  whispered.  "Do  you 
see  it?" 

Gleaming  among  the  venerable  oaks,  there 
was  a  radiance,  not  like  the  moonbeams,  but 
rather  resembling  the  golden  glory  of  the 
setting  sun.  It  proceeded  from  an  object, 
which  appeared  to  be  suspended  at  about  a 
man's  height  from  the  ground,  a  little  farther 
within  the  wood. 

"What  is  it?"  asked  Jason. 

"  Have  you  come  so  far  to  seek  it,"  exclaimed 
Medea,  "  and  do  you  not  recognize  the  meed  of 
all  your  toils  and  perils,  when  it  glitters  before 
your  eyes?  It  is  the  Golden  Fleece." 

Jason  went  onward  a  few  steps  farther,  and 
then  stopped  to  gaze.  O,  how  beautiful  it 
looked,  shining  with  a  marvelous  light  of  its  own, 
that  inestimable  prize  which  so  many  heroes  had 
longed  to  behold,  but  had  perished  in  the  quest 
of  it,  either  by  the  perils  of  their  voyage,  or 
by  the  fiery  breath  of  the  brazen-lunged  bulls. 

"How  gloriously  it  shines!"  cried  Jason,  in  a 
rapture.  "  It  has  surely  been  dipped  in  the 
richest  gold  of  sunset.  Let  me  hasten  onward, 
and  take  it  to  my  bosom." 

"Stay,"  said  Medea,  holding  him  back. 
"Have  you  forgotten  what  guards  it?" 

To  say  the  truth,  in  the  joy  of  beholding  the 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  281 

object  of  his  desires,  the  terrible  dragon  had 
quite  slipped  out  of  Jason's  memory.  Soon, 
however,  something  came  to  pass,  that  reminded 
him  what  perils  were  still  to  be  encountered. 
An  antelope,  that  probably  mistook  the  yellow 
radiance  for  sunrise,  came  bounding  fleetly 
through  the  grove.  He  was  rushing  straight 
towards  the  Golden  Fleece,  when  suddenly 
there  was  a  frightful  hiss,  and  the  immense  head 
and  half  the  scaly  body  of  the  dragon  was  thrust 
forth  (for  he  was  twisted  round  the  trunk  of  the 
tree  on  which  the  Fleece  hung),  and  seizing  the 
poor  antelope,  swallowed  him  with  one  snap  of 
his  jaws. 

After  this  feat,  the  dragon  seemed  sensible 
that  some  other  living  creature  was  within  reach, 
on  which  he  felt  inclined  to  finish  his  meal.  In 
various  directions  he  kept  poking  his  ugly  snout 
among  the  trees,  stretching  out  his  neck  a  terrible 
long  way,  now  here,  now  there,  and  now  close  to 
the  spot  where  Jason  and  the  princess  were  hid- 
ing behind  an  oak.  Upon  my  word,  as  the  head 
came  waving  and  undulating  through  the  air, 
and  reaching  almost  within  arm's  length  of  Prince 
Jason,  it  was  a  very  hideous  and  uncomfortable 
sight.  The  gape  of  his  enormous  jaws  was  nearly 
as  wide  as  the  gateway  of  the  king's  palace. 

"Well,  Jason,"  whispered  Medea  (for  she 
was  ill  natured,  as  all  enchantresses  are,  and 
wanted  to  make  the  bold  youth  tremble), 


282  TANGLEWOOD  TALES. 

"what  do  you  think  now  of  your  prospect  of 
winning  the  Golden  Fleece?" 

Jason  answered  only  by  drawing  his  sword,, 
and  making  a  step  forward. 

"Stay,  foolish  youth,"  said  Medea,  grasping 
his  arm.  "  Do  not  you  see  you  are  lost,  without 
me  as  your  good  angel?  In  this  gold  box  I 
have  a  magic  potion,  which  will  do  the  dragon's 
business  far  more  effectually  than  your  sword." 

The  dragon  had  probably  heard  the  voices; 
for  swift  as  lightning,  his  black  head  and  forked 
tongue  came  hissing  among  the  trees  again, 
darting  full  forty  feet  at  a  stretch.  As  it 
approached,  Medea  tossed  the  contents  of  the 
gold  box  right  down  the  monster's  wide-open 
throat.  Immediately,  with  an  outrageous  hiss 
and  a  tremendous  wriggle — flinging  his  tail  up 
to  the  tip-top  of  the  tallest  tree,  and  shattering 
all  its  branches  as  it  crashed  heavily  down 
again — the  dragon  fell  at  full  length  upon  the 
ground,  and  lay  quite  motionless. 

"It  is  only  a  sleeping  potion,"  said  the 
enchantress  to  Prince  Jason.  "One  always 
finds  a  use  for  these  mischievous  creatures, 
sooner  or  later;  so  I  did  not  wish  to  kill  him 
outright.  Quick!  Snatch  the  prize,  and  let  us 
begone.  You  have  won  the  Golden  Fleece." 

Jason  caught  the  fleece  from  the  tree,  and 
hurried  through  the  grove,  the  deep  shadows 
of  which  were  illuminated  as  he  passed  by  the 


Jason  caught  the  fleece  from  the  tree 


THE  GOLDEN  FLEECE.  283 

golden  glory  of  the  precious  object  that  he  bore 
along.  A  little  way  before  him,  he  beheld  the 
old  woman  whom  he  had  helped  over  the  stream, 
with  her  peacock  beside  her.  She  clapped  her 
hands  for  joy,  and  beckoning  him  to  make 
haste,  disappeared  among  the  duskiness  of  the 
trees.  Espying  the  two  winged  sons  of  the 
North  Wind  (who  were  disporting  themselves 
in  the  moonlight,  a  few  hundred  feet  aloft), 
Jason  bade  them  tell  the  rest  of  the  Argonauts  to 
embark  as  speedily  as  possible.  But  Lynceus, 
with  his  sharp  eyes,  had  already  caught  a  glimpse 
of  him,  bringing  the  Golden  Fleece,  although 
several  stone  walls,  a  hill,  and  the  black  shadows 
of  the  Grove  of  Mars,  intervened  between.  By 
his  advice,  the  heroes  had  seated  themselves  on 
the  benches  of  the  galley,  with  their  oars  held 
perpendicularly,  ready  to  let  fall  into  the  water. 

As  Jason  drew  near,  he  heard  the  Talking 
Image  calling  to  him  with  more  than  ordinary 
eagerness,  in  its  grave,  sweet  voice : 

"Make  haste,  Prince  Jason!  For  your  life, 
make  haste!" 

With  one  bound,  he  leaped  aboard.  At  sight 
of  the  glorious  radiance  of  the  Golden  Fleece, 
the  nine  and  forty  heroes  gave  a  mighty  shout, 
and  Orpheus,  striking  his  harp,  sang  a  song  of 
triumph,  to  the  cadence  of  which  the  galley 
flew  over  the  water,,  homeward  bound,  as  if 
careering  along  with  wings! 


i-OF-CALlf 


ILIBRARY0/: 


^SOJITCHO^ 
^.OFCAIIFO^ 


Jffi 


University  of  California  Library 
Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 

Phono  Renewals 

310/826-91, 


.-/•>*»„...  .««<v? 


r»    *' 


y/o.iuvuan.i 


r; 


il 

f     % 

$       •%HMN1H\ 


fli? 


^WMtQf          .flttflWVBSk       ^UJS-ANKlflU          ^VUBRARY-Qr 

Innri  lirfl.  R5PI  tnr:^ 


JITYD-JO^      %OJI1VD^ 


:-CAl! 


f 

%im-sm^ 


© 
^Anvaan-i 


fo^l 


%ojnvD- 


^IHRHVEHS^ 

^v  S% 

J 


<^33NV-S01 


:-CAl!FO%      ^OP-CAIIFO^          ^BNIYKS/A 
x-^.  ^.    ^»  x^v^.       «v      ^^'S) 

I'S®!  liSfi 


^UDNV-SOV 


nvo-jO> 

;OKAltFO^ 

A         .X*""^.       /? 


1J 


F-CAUI 


